Aviation News

This week, AVweb’s news roundup found reports on a new partnership for a charter operation, a luxury edition VTOL, a top sales award for an aircraft distributor and an airline adopting a new training management system. Short-haul jet service provider JSX has announced that it will be partnering with Air Planning, a large group air […]

The Atlas Air 767 that plummeted into the wetlands short of a Houston airport in February was under a control tug-of-war between crew members prior to impact. According to the NTSB Public Docket released this week, the first officer of the 767 was convinced the aircraft, being flown for Amazon Prime, was in a stalled […]

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule made history on Sunday but this time it was for a success. The empty crew capsule failed to make it to its intended orbit following the spacecraft’s first uncrewed test launch on Friday but after doing some math engineers were able to bring it to a soft landing on the […]

OpenAirplane has announced that it will be closing the doors on both its aircraft rental platform and its FlyOtto charter platform as of Dec. 23, 2019. According to the company, OpenAirplane was designed to make it easier for pilots to “find, book, fly, and pay for aircraft rental online or with a mobile device” while […]

Rolls-Royce has introduced the plane it hopes will set a new record for the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft, announcing plans to try for the top spot in late Spring 2020. According to the company, its target speed for the aircraft is 300 mph (480 kph/260 kts) or greater. The previous record of 210 mph (338 […]

NASA has announced that its X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft has been cleared for final assembly and systems integration, a move the agency called the “last programmatic hurdle” for QueSST prior to flight signoff. Approval for final assembly of the X-59 was given at a Key Decision Point-D (KDP-D) management review last week. Assembly […]

A 17-year-old girl was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly stealing and crashing a King Air 200 at California’s Fresno Yosemite International Airport (KFAT). The teen reportedly gained access to the ramp by climbing a fence near an airport maintenance building. It is not yet known how she was able to get into the aircraft and […]

The FAA will require that all FAA airman certificate applicants obtain an FAA Tracking Number (FTN) before registering for an airman knowledge test, the agency said on Monday. The FTN requirement (PDF) will go into effect on Jan. 13, 2020, and applies to certifications for both manned and unmanned aircraft operators along with mechanic, parachute […]

The stall warning and stick shaker were active almost immediately after liftoff in the Pilatus PC-12 that crashed soon after departure from the Chamberlain Municipal Airport in South Dakota in late November, according to the NTSB preliminary report released today. Of the 12 on board, eight perished, including the pilot, with three seriously injured. The […]

Almost 60 years after Max Conrad’s set a westbound around-the-world record, Bill Harrelson and his Lancair IV have broken it wide open. Completing the journey in five legs, Harrelson landed back in Ontario, CA, with a trip duration almost 20 hours ahead of Conrad’s Piper Aztec-flown record. All told, Harrelson flew a bit over 120 […]