Aviation News

This week, AVweb‘s news roundup found reports on an event held by the Lancair Owners and Builders Organization, an upcoming aerospace exhibition, a new contract between CEFA Aviation and China’s aviation authority and the addition of more hubs for Airstream Jets’ Jet Card Program. The Lancair Owners and Builders Organization (LOBO) will be holding its […]

Space Race: Virgin Vs. Blue Origin The “race” between Blue Origin and Virgin seems to come down to sales hype. Branson, the ultimate showman, has the charisma to make his rocket powered shuttlecock look inviting while Bezos’ more mundane capsule has some actual historical experience to draw upon. Only recently has Blue Origin allowed real-time […]

Braille Battery announced the successful completion of a series of test trials on the company’s new customized lithium batteries for commercial drones (UAVs) last week. Braille says the trials demonstrated that its batteries provided “longer discharge cycles—with significantly less weight—than the incumbent battery,” although estimates of how much longer and lighter have not yet been […]

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) says that its Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rulemaking initiative has made substantial progress after a meeting with FAA officials in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. EAA also met with the FAA during AirVenture to discuss MOSAIC, which is designed to “relieve builders of well-proven homebuilts of some of […]

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin met on Wednesday to discuss the status of International Space Station (ISS) operations after speculation that a leak detected onboard the station two weeks ago was possibly the result of sabotage. During the discussion, NASA says Rogozin informed Bridenstine that Roscosmos was establishing a commission […]

The United States Air Force has released the results of a branch-wide operational safety review, which identified a series of safety risks for Air Force flight crews. The report pinpointed stress posed by high operations tempos, a lack of time to properly focus on flying basics and decreased aircraft availability as potential safety concerns in […]

With Hurricane Florence heading for the Carolina coast, the FAA is warning unauthorized drone operators to stay out of the skies around areas impacted by the storm even if no Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place. The agency emphasized that unauthorized flights during and after the storm could disrupt emergency response flights, which often […]

Vertical Aerospace, based in the United Kingdom, has built a full-scale eVTOL technology demonstrator and recently announced the aircraft began flight testing in June. It’s the first of its type to complete a flight test in the U.K. The single-seat aircraft, which weighs about 1600 pounds, is controlled by a remote pilot. It has a […]

How about a wager? Which comes first, the FAA’s vaunted NextGen collapses in scandal and budget overruns or someone—anyone—actually launches a space tourist without turning him or her into a cosmic cinder? Although there’s a Voodoo doll with my name on it at 800 Independence Ave. and restraint has never been a long suit of […]