Aviation News

This week, Airbus officially kicked off production of the A220 commuter jet at the Mobile, Alabama, facility, run by workers trained at the former Bombardier facility in Mirabel, Canada. The facility was announced in 2017. “The expansion of our commercial aircraft production in Mobile to a second product line—with 400 additional jobs to support it—further […]

Boeing is fundamentally redesigning the software architecture of the 737 MAX flight control system to take data from both of the system’s computers and to compare the data from the sensors feeding them. The existing system uses data from only one flight control computer and the second serves as a backup. In the new setup, […]

A United Airlines captain and his first officer are in jail in Scotland awaiting a court appearance Tuesday on charges they planned to fly a Boeing 757 full of passengers to Newark while impaired. The flight deck crew, aged 61 and 45, were intercepted in the airport and prevented from boarding for the scheduled 9 […]

After a 22-minute flight into the history books, Franky Zapata says he needs a break. The colorful Frenchman crossed the English Channel on the jet-powered hoverboard he invented on Sunday. It was his second attempt. He tried the same feat on July 25, the 110th anniversary of Louis Bleriot’s first flight over the 30-mile shipping […]

Canadian authorities appear to have a well-documented and recorded case of hypoxia in their investigation of the stall/spin fatal accident involving a Piper Navajo a year ago. On Aug. 1, 2018, an Aries Aviation PA-31, a well-maintained aircraft regularly flown by experienced pilots, inexplicably spun into a 10,000-foot mountain peak while on initial descent to […]

As a new arms race looms between the world’s superpowers, Russia has upped the ante with the announcement of a new strategic stealth bomber. President Vladimir Putin has confirmed he’ll be on hand when the PAK DA begins “trials” at the Flight Test and Development Center near Moscow next month. Images of the aircraft in […]

AVweb’s weekly news roundup uncovered reports on a new career pathway partnership for helicopter students, a $10,000 award for aircraft development, a scholarship win for an A&P and a new partnership for a global aerospace provider. Hillsboro Aero Academy division Hillsboro Heli Academy has finalized an agreement with Texas-based Bristow Group to provide a career […]

Stung by the trade war with China that’s dried up investment capital, light sport manufacturer Icon said Friday that it’s reducing its workforce by 40 percent and cutting production to fewer than five airplanes a month. COO Thomas Wieners said in a conference call Friday afternoon that the workforce will decline from 650 workers to […]

Piper has produced its first production part using additive manufacturing—more commonly known as 3D printing—according to a company announcement last week. The part, a climate control system component, was printed using an HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 3D printer. Piper says it is currently focusing on creating and testing non-flight-critical components with the goal of […]

In partnership with drone software management company Kittyhawk, the FAA has relaunched its B4UFLY mobile app for drone pilots. According to the FAA, B4UFLY was designed as a situational awareness tool for recreational drone users to help them figure out where they can and cannot fly in the national airspace system (NAS). The updated app […]