Aviation News

NASA has signed on with SpaceX for five additional missions to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS). The missions are a modification to NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with the company, which originally covered nine missions. The fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification is valued at $1.4 billion. “The amount includes ground, launch, […]

In a first for the aviation industry, the FAA has approved supplemental type certificates (STCs) for the use of General Aviation Modifications Inc.’s G100UL 100-octane unleaded avgas in all general aviation piston aircraft. GAMI co-founder George Braly stated that the fuel will initially be produced in small batches while the manufacturing and distribution infrastructure is […]

The FAA has awarded $231,000 in grants designed to facilitate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) outreach. The grants will go to three universities—North Carolina State University, Kansas State University and Ohio’s Sinclair Community College—for programs aimed at students of elementary, middle, and high school age with a focus on “those who are under-represented in […]

Avidyne’s AviOS10.3 operating system software for the IFD GPS navigator series and ATLAS and HELIOS flight management systems has received FAA technical standard order authorization (TSOA) and supplemental type certificate (STC) approval. Among the features added with the software upgrade are visual approaches, vertical navigation (VNAV) and a certified terrain avoidance and warning system (TAWS) […]

The City of Duluth’s economic development arm has essentially given Cirrus Aircraft a massive 189,000-square-foot aircraft maintenance hangar at the local airport in exchange for adding jobs at its expanding campus there. According to the Duluth News Tribune, the former Northwest Airlines/Delta Air Lines maintenance depot is owned by the Duluth Economic Development Authority and […]

As the B-52 closes in on 70 years of service, the Air Force has found yet another use for the airframe. Four B-52Hs were outfitted with cargo pods that fit in the bomb bays to carry stuff for an exercise. According to an Air Force news release, the exercise involved keeping the bomber force mobile […]

The Department of Justice has effectively trapped a Russian oil company’s Boeing 737 in Russia by obtaining a warrant for its seizure. The DOJ issued a press release on Wednesday saying the warrant was issued by a Texas court based on illegal flights the plane allegedly took between 2014 and 2019. The plane’s owner, Lukoil, […]

It would appear some good old U.S. (and Ukrainian) ingenuity has gone into the apparently successful integration of the digitally dependent Raytheon AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) into the completely analog MiG-29s of the Ukrainian air force. The potent weapon, which is designed to home in on and take out radar-guided surface-to-air missiles, is now […]

The U.S. Army temporarily grounded its fleet of CH-47 Chinook helicopters on Tuesday citing a small number of engine fires caused by fuel leaks. The Army stated that the cause of the leaks has been identified and corrective measures are being implemented. A statement from Honeywell, the company that manufactures the Chinook’s T-55 engine, attributed […]

Avionics manufacturer FreeFlight Systems has announced that its Terrain series of radar altimeters (“radalts”) has received FAA Technical Standard Order certification. The dual-install RA-6500 and single-install RA-5500 meet performance standards for airborne low-range radar altimeters free from interference by 5G cellular telephone networks. Anthony Rios, president of FreeFlight Systems, said, “In 2019, foreseeing the interference […]