Aviation News

Bucking the prevailing trend that characterizes general aviation as “luxury jets” that are no more than play toys of the economic elite, Forbes Magazine recently published an article titled, “What You Didn’t Know About Private Jets.” Cribbing heavily from statistics published in the National Business Aviation Association’s updated 2021 Business Aviation Fact Book, Forbes contributor […]

A Diamond Aircraft DA50 RG is on display at China AirShow 2021 (Sept. 28—Oct. 3) in Zhuhai, Guangdong, and it got there the long way. Ferry pilots from the factory in Austria flew the high-performance single all the way to China for the show, arriving Monday (Sept. 27). The aircraft made 12 stops en route. […]

A 230-pound female loggerhead sea turtle got the ride of her life recently, when the volunteer GA nonprofit organization “Turtles Fly Too” flew her from a Florida turtle hospital to a conservation facility in South Padre Island, Texas. All expenses for the five-hour flight were paid by the unnamed aircraft owner-operator. The charity’s mission statement […]

According to Russian state news agency TASS, three Sukhoi Su-35S fighters were scrambled to intercept a U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber on Sunday (Sept. 26). The intercept occurred as the bomber “approached Russian airspace over the Pacific,” according to TASS. The fighters “strictly followed” international rules and escorted the bomber away from the sensitive airspace, […]

While it’s not uncommon for Bell Textron to deliver its helicopters to customers around the world, it is unusual for a buyer from Ukraine to pick one up at the factory in Mirabel, Canada, and fly it home. But that’s exactly what an unnamed customer did last week. After taking delivery of a Bell 407GXi, […]

Gulfstream Aerospace announced on Monday that it has handed over its 50th G600 business jet with a delivery to an undisclosed customer based in North America. Manufactured at Gulfstream’s facility in Savannah, Georgia, the G600 received its type and production certificates from the FAA in July 2019 and entered service the following August. Gulfstream reports […]

As travel numbers continue to climb in the U.S., airlines are poaching pilots from countries where the recovery is lagging in a domino scenario that could seriously threaten the aviation recovery in some places. Australian officials say they’re worried a recruiting drive by U.S. airlines in their country will hamstring the industry when its pandemic […]

Republican politicians are demanding an investigation into the FAA’s decision to ban drone flights over a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, that was the site of a mass encampment of migrants. The GOP is alleging the move was politically motivated and designed to prevent images embarrassing to the Biden administration from being gathered by media […]

Congress appears poised to short-circuit the FAA’s plans for an elaborate rewrite of its commercial aviation definition that has resulted in frustrating paperwork exercises for some CFIs. The House has passed a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that states in plain language that an instructor conducting training “shall not be deemed to […]

Google’s drone delivery service in Canberra, Australia, has been temporarily shut down after several of its aircraft were attacked by ravens. It’s early spring Down Under and the nesting birds are attacking the drones, which have been carrying everything from coffee to prescription drugs to customers in the nation’s capital since 2019. Google announced the […]