Aviation News

The U.S. Senate confirmed Jennifer Homendy as the 15th Chair of the of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Monday. She was nominated for the position following the retirement of former NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt last May. Homendy has served on the board since August 2018 and was reconfirmed for a five-year term in […]

SkyWest has signed an agreement to purchase 16 new Embraer E175 passenger jets, which it plans to operate under a multiyear contract with Delta Air Lines. The aircraft are expected to replace 16 CRJ900s that SkyWest is currently flying under contract with Delta. Deliveries of the 76-seat, three-class E175s are scheduled to begin in mid-2020. […]

Quarterly reports from the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) have come to rival reports from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) as a barometer of GA fortunes. As avionics retrofits have flourished and forward-fit numbers also serve to measure new-aircraft deliveries, AEA’s sales numbers have served as an accurate reflection of the state of the industry. […]

On a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami on Saturday, Aug. 7, 22-year-old Maxwell Berry allegedly sexually assaulted two female flight attendants and punched a male flight attendant. But what makes this now-commonplace occurrence stand out is that the flight attendants teamed up to force Berry into a seat—and duct-taped him in place. Berry […]

With the growing popularity of backcountry flying and short takeoff and land (STOL) competitions, landing on mid-river gravel bars has become a popular activity. High-lift devices, specialized engines and props, and oversize tires make the practice relatively safe, and lots of fun. But gravel-bar flying received an unwelcome black eye last week when a Piper […]

The FAA sent a strong message last week that it would come down hard on operators who carry passengers for hire without all the appropriate certification or qualifications. So-called “gray charter” is cited as a major problem within the air charter industry. It is identified as operators claiming flights that are actually revenue-generating operations are […]

NASA has designated three academic teams as Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence (VLRCOE), continuing its support and funding for university research into vertical life technology. Made up of universities across the country, the teams will be led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Maryland. In partnership with […]

Following some interest from airlines in electric aircraft, cargo carrier DHL has announced it has ordered 12 Eviation Alice electric cargo aircraft. It’s the first order for the cargo version of the aircraft and DHL has big plans. “We firmly believe in a future with zero-emission logistics,” John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express, said in a news […]

The upset of the International Space Station a week ago was a lot more dramatic than was first revealed and there’s now a call for an independent investigation of the incident. As we reported last week the ISS was knocked off its normal attitude when a Russian module that had just docked with the station […]

Surveillance video of Dale “Snort” Snodgrass’ fatal accident (warning, graphic content that might be upsetting to some) has been released and it shows the takeoff sequence that ends in seconds with the crash. The video, which includes radio exchanges with the tower, shows Snodgrass lining up normally for takeoff from Lewiston Airport in Idaho on […]