Aviation News

This week, AVweb’s news roundup found reports on a contract for online pilot training, an upgrade for an aviation information platform and the launch of a new pilot app. Avsoft International has signed a long-term contract with Serbia-based private business jet charter airline Air Pink to provide online pilot training for the ERJ145. Air Pink […]

United Airlines and Honeywell have announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels, a company developing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production technologies. According to United, Alder plans to produce SAF at scale by “converting abundant biomass, such as forest and crop waste, into sustainable low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation […]

NASA’s Langley Research Center has completed its final round of testing on the eXternal Vision System (XVS) for the agency’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft. According to NASA, the system has already been shipped to X-59 builder Lockheed Martin for installation. Designed to replace a forward-facing window, the XVS is a camera and display […]

Textron Aviation has announced that its Beechcraft King Air 360/360ER and 260 twin-engine turboprops have earned their European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certifications. The 360—along with the longer-range 360ER version—was introduced in August 2020 and received its FAA type certificate the following October. Textron unveiled the King Air 260 last December and the FAA […]

Archer Aviation has announced that the FAA has approved the G-1 certification basis for its all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft design. According to the company, it will now focus on finalizing the G-2 Issue Paper, which will lay out the means of compliance with G-1 requirements. Archer says it has been working with […]

A joint Sikorsky-Boeing team has officially submitted its proposal for the Defiant X helicopter to the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. Unveiled last January, the Defiant X is based on the team’s SB>1 Defiant technology demonstrator, which flew for the first time in March 2019. The Defiant X will feature a coaxial […]

The Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) is proposing a $28-per-passenger airport improvement fee (AIF) for general aviation aircraft passengers arriving from international locations at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA). The fee does not apply to international or domestic commercial carrier passengers. NAD says its methodology and application of the fee are consistent with ICAO’s Policies […]

Airbus Helicopters Inc. has delivered the first UH-72B to the U.S. Army National Guard from its factory in Columbus, Mississippi. The UH-72B is the latest variant of Airbus’ Lakota line of rotorcraft. The National Guard has 18 UH-72B Lakotas on order. The latest iteration of the commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) rotorcraft joins its predecessors as the […]

There have been some high-profile cases of people who targeted aircraft with laser pointers being identified and prosecuted. But in many cases, it was luck that played the largest role in tracking down the offenders. But the FAA recently announced it has developed a visualization tool for analyzing laser strikes dating back from 2010 and […]

The 1980s film “Blue Thunder” featured a helicopter that could switch to “whisper mode” and hover in almost total silence. That bit of Hollywood magic made virtually everyone in the rotorcraft industry chuckle, but a surprising number of viewers believed whisper mode was real. Could some developmental electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) candidates be […]