Aviation News

Virgin Atlantic became another victim of COVID-19’s rampage through air travel, as it filed for bankruptcy protection today. Virgin, based in the U.K., filed for Chapter 15 protection despite asking for nearly $1.5 billion in assistance last month; the airline says it will run out of cash in September without an infusion. According to reports, […]

Aspen Avionics announced on Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to become a member of the AIRO Group. As part of the group, Aspen says it will be able to expand its investments, resources and technologies in general aviation avionics as well as allowing the company to move into offering “avionics solutions for […]

Cirrus has rolled out a “turnkey” service called VisionAir, which intends to help owners manage maintenance and pilot services for the Vision Jet. Initially offered at Cirrus’ facility at the McKinney, Texas, airport, the program is expected to expand to other facilities. According to Cirrus, “The program includes an on-demand professional pilot, concierge services, complete […]

The venerable and venerated King Air turboprop is getting a mild but noticeable makeover with the 360 and 360ER versions announced today. Key features include new autothrottles and digital pressurization management in addition to a heavily revised interior. Updates to the pressurization include a higher differential pressure limit to provide a 10 percent decrease in […]

Virgin Galactic and its subsidiary, The Spaceship Company, introduced a new supersonic jet design concept on Monday aimed at the long-distance commercial aviation segment. In addition, the companies announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Rolls-Royce to develop and design “engine propulsion technology for high speed commercial aircraft.” According to Virgin Galactic, the […]

In a bizarre series of crashes that may have been caused by unforecast winds, multiple passengers were injured in the crash of three hot balloons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Monday. At least one of the victims was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Idaho Falls, according to The Associated Press. Other victims sustained a […]

The latest chapter in the Boeing 737 MAX saga debuted today, with the FAA releasing a “preliminary summary” of its formal review of the tasks required to return the airliner to service. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) outlining compliance measures is due to be published this week; it contains a 45-day comment period that […]

Garmin’s emergency Autoland system has received EASA and FAA certification in Daher’s TBM 940 single-engine turboprop. According to Garmin, the system is designed to be “capable of taking control and landing the aircraft without human intervention,” using a range of performance, operational and environmental factors. Autoland, which is available as part of the G3000 integrated […]

An opinion writer for Forbes has postulated that the future of the pilot trade is just that, “semi-professional” monitors of autonomous machines that actually discourage human intervention because we are so sloppy. In a column, Paul Kennard says humans are too imprecise to get the best performance and longevity out of aircraft systems and cost […]

Airlines are enforcing their individual mask mandates in the absence of any government mandates and several flights have been turned around in the last couple of weeks because passengers refused to wear them. The latest was a Delta flight that returned to Detroit Metro because two passengers “were non-compliant with crew instructions.” The rest of […]