Aviation News

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of Inspector General announced on Monday that it has initiated an audit of the FAA’s pilot training requirements due to concerns raised by the fatal crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019, both Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The […]

In a stinging report, the DOT has criticized the FAA for lax oversight of Southwest Airlines, saying, in part, that the agency accepted Southwest’s justification that “issues identified were low safety risks.” As a result, the DOT’s Office of Inspector General said in a report today that Southwest “operates aircraft in an unknown airworthiness state, […]

Superior Air Parts has settled the lawsuit stemming from a 2016 crash of a Van’s RV-8A experimental following catastrophic failure of the XP-400 engine. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Superior settled for $5 million in the crash of builder/owner Dane Sheahen and passenger James Kos in March of 2016; both men were killed […]

Collins Aerospace Systems announced the opening of its new 10,000-square-foot Singapore Innovation Hub near Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) on Monday. The hub will focus on areas including additive manufacturing capabilities and techniques and automation, sensing and machine learning technology. Collins says it intends to deliver more than 40 proofs of concept over the next five […]

Airbus officially introduced its Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls (MAVERIC) blended wing body technological demonstrator on Tuesday at the 2020 Singapore Airshow. Airbus believes the design could “reduce fuel consumption by up to 20 percent compared to current single-aisle aircraft.” The remote-controlled scale model demonstrator measures 2 meters (about 6.56 […]

McFarlane Aviation, which provides a host of replacement parts for Cessna aircraft, has released Service Bulletin SB-10, Revision A, warning that there might be “material defects” in the extruded-aluminum hinges the company sells for Cessna ailerons. These defects could lead to cracking of the hinge. McFarlane says the hinges were produced between Feb. 22, 2019, […]

Women in Aviation International has a new CEO starting this month. Allison McKay, formerly the VP at the Helicopter Association International Foundation, will join WAI and will be responsible for “the future strategic vision of the 14,500-member strong organization while overseeing the board of directors, professional staff, and daily operations.” McKay takes over for WAI […]

Russia is accusing Israel of using civilian airliners as shields to launch air strikes in Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Israeli air force F-16s intentionally put an A320 with 172 passengers on board between themselves and Syrian anti-aircraft missiles as they launched eight air-to-ground missiles on positions held by pro-Iranian forces near […]

Those dreaming of a Dreamliner for a $26 raffle ticket were brought back to earth on Friday when the Mexican government announced it will hang on to the presidential Boeing 787-8 for at least two more years. But it’s going ahead with the raffle to sell six million tickets at 500 pesos each and instead […]

The FAA is proposing to issue type certificates for individual unmanned aircraft designs heavier than 55 pounds that will be used for package delivery. In a Federal Register Notice published last week, the agency says it wants to certify drones under the “special class” category that addresses aircraft “for which certification standards do not exist […]