Aviation News

A Belarus air force MiG-29 escorted a Ryanair Boeing 737 to Minsk where one of the current president’s leading critics was arrested. Ryanair said the crew of its scheduled flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, was contacted by Belarus authorities warning of a “potential security threat on board” and ordered to divert to Minsk. The […]

Virgin Galactic got back in the manned space launch business Saturday with the successful flight and recovery of its VSS Unity manned vehicle. The craft, carried by its jet aircraft mothership Eve, took off from Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and was released at 44,000 feet. It rocketed to an altitude of 55.45 […]

Aerion Supersonic has closed shop because the millions it had so far raised from investors, plus the contributions of its billionaire owner, wasn’t going to be enough to bring its AS2 supersonic business jet to market. “The AS2 supersonic business jet program meets all market, technical, regulatory and sustainability requirements and the market for a new […]

Embraer announced on Friday that it has delivered its 600th Phenom 300 series business jet. The aircraft went to Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Superior Capital Holdings for use supporting the company’s business operations throughout the U.S. According to Embraer, the Phenom 300 fleet has logged more than 1.2 million flight hours since the model’s launch in 2005. […]

Legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday would establish a tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Called the Sustainable Skies Act, the bill would provide between $1.50 and $2.00 per each gallon of SAF used as long as the fuel “achieves at least a 50 percent lifecycle greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions […]

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) announced that the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certificates (MOSAIC) rulemaking initiative remains on track following meetings of ASTM International Committee F37 on Light-Sport Aircraft last week. According to EAA, the committee has been “tasked with updating industry consensus standards for light-sport aircraft to prepare for and accommodate anticipated changes to […]

The first quarter (Q1) of 2021 saw an increase in turbine helicopter and propeller airplane deliveries while business jet and piston helicopter shipments were flat compared to the same time period last year. According to the recently released General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) general aviation aircraft shipments and billings report (PDF), piston airplane deliveries rose […]

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released the first two images taken by its Zhurong Martian rover on Wednesday. The rover touched down on Utopia Planitia in the planet’s northern hemisphere on May 15, making China the second nation ever to successfully land on Mars. The Tianwen-1 mission, of which the rover is part along […]

Pilot Margrit Waltz successfully completed her 900th ferry flight last week, taking a TBM 940 turboprop from Daher’s production site in Tarbes, France, to Delaware County Airport (KMIE) near Muncie, Indiana. The trip took three days, 15 hours and 38 minutes of which were in the air, with stopovers in Wick, Scotland; Keflavik, Iceland; Canada’s […]

F-16s intercepted a Grumman Tiger that violated last weekend’s Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) involving President Biden’s visit to his home in Wilmington, Delaware. According to a Secret Service statement, “On May 16, at approximately 1:09 p.m., a small aircraft violated the restricted airspace in Wilmington, DE. Per standard protocol, U.S. military aircraft responded, the aircraft was […]