Aviation News

The Air Force has flown a Cessna 206 with a robotic pilot it says can essentially turn an aircraft into a drone and then get turned back into a manned aircraft. The ROBOpilot flew a two-hour autonomous test flight at Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground Aug. 9 handling the takeoff, flight maneuvers and landing without human […]

Canadian authorities have launched investigations, including a criminal negligence probe, after a skydiver was injured when both her main and reserve parachutes failed to deploy properly. The 30-year-old woman suffered broken bones and other non-life-threatening injuries after falling about 5,000 feet during a solo jump near Trois Rivieres, Quebec. It was described by local media […]

A couple of commercial space launch companies are steering clear of bringing their boosters back to Earth under their own power and are instead borrowing a technique from the dawn of space exploitation. Wired says United Launch Alliance and small-launch provider Rocket Lab plan to grab their boosters out of the air with helicopters as […]

The show went on in Chicago this weekend after two Blue Angels F-18s touched during a close formation maneuver during practice last Wednesday at their home base in Pensacola, Florida. “The No. 3 canopy made momentary contact with the underside of No. 1’s outer wing during the Diamond 360 maneuver,” Navy spokeswoman Lt. Michelle Tucker said. […]

This week, AVweb’s news roundup found reports on a new addition for a charter company, a GA engine and avionics company heading to an AOPA fly-in, a new location for an aviation academy and an aviation social media collaboration project raising money for charity. Business aviation services company Desert Jet has added a second Cessna […]

Tecnam’s P2012 Traveller has been awarded its FAA type certificate, the company announced on Friday. The 11-seat commuter was designed by company founder Luigi Pascale, who passed away in March 2017. It is powered by two 375-HP Lycoming TEO-540-C1A engines, has a maximum cruise speed of 194 knots, greater than 950-NM range and useful load […]

A Cessna Citation 680 business jet carrying former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife, Amy, and their 1-year-old daughter, Isla, along with two unidentified pilots, overran the runway at Tennessee’s Elizabethton Municipal Airport (0A9) on Thursday. No serious injuries have been reported, although the family and pilots were transported to Johnson City Medical Center […]

Boeing is delaying development of the 777-8, the ultra-long-range version of its widebody 777X family, which includes the 777-8 and the slightly larger 777-9. While the company had not previously announced a planned entry-into-service date for the 777-8, it is being considered alongside an ultra-long-range version of the Airbus A350 for Qantas Airlines’ Project Sunrise, […]

An Airbus A321 operated by Ural Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing in a cornfield near Moscow, Russia, shortly after takeoff when an encounter with a flock of seagulls caused an engine failure on Thursday morning. All 226 passengers and seven crew members onboard were able to evacuate the aircraft via the emergency […]

Embraer’s Praetor 500 midsize business jet has received its type certificate from Brazil’s Civil Aviation Authority (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil—ANAC), the company announced at the Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (LBACE) in São Paulo, Brazil, on Tuesday. The Honeywell HTF7500E-powered Praetor 500 has a range of 3,340 NM, high-speed cruise of 466 […]