Aviation News

Authorities in China opened 93 new general aviation airports in the first half of this year, Xinhua reported this week, bringing the total number of GA airports nationwide to 173. The country now has a total of 404 airports, including 231 civil airports. Authorities have said China plans to open 200 new GA airports by […]

NASA has announced new partnerships with six U.S. companies to develop technologies related to space exploration. The accepted proposals cover three strategic technology focus areas: Expand Utilization of Space, Enable Efficient and Safe Transportation Into and Through Space, and Increase Access to Planetary Surfaces. Altogether, NASA will be awarding approximately $44 million dollars to the […]

There’s all kinds of shaking going on in the unleaded avgas sphere, as evidenced by revelations at Oshkosh this year. Those of us who expect the progress of science and commerce to be orderly and stately might be dismayed by the apparent confusion, indeterminacy, contradiction and flawed human behavior in the quest for a lead-free […]

For the second time in less than a month, a vintage airliner carrying passengers has crashed but this time there were no fatalities. The 1944 de Havilland Dragon Rapide biplane took off from Abbotsford International Airport in British Columbia about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday just after the close of the annual airshow for the day. […]

Propping? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? I certainly enjoyed Paul’s description of the propping episode he experienced. He writes well and I’d like to see more. I’m not sure he has a clear understanding of what and why the impulse coupler does what it does, however. It is surprising that he hasn’t had many such […]

Airbus Defense and Space has announced the successful landing of its first production Zephyr S High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) after a record-breaking 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes aloft. It was launched on July 11. The previous endurance record was a held by the Zephyr 7 prototype, which remained airborne for more than 14 […]

Honda Aircraft Company announced on Tuesday that it has begun deliveries of its new HondaJet Elite model. Honda introduced the Elite last May at a special hangar event ahead of the 2018 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland. The Elite adds noise-attenuating structures for the engines, upgrades to the avionics, including […]

Former online flight sharing service Flytenow says that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is standing in the way of flight sharing by opposing a Senate bill introduced in April by Senator Mike Lee of Utah. According to both AOPA and Flytenow, representatives from AOPA, NATA and NBAA held a conference call with Flytenow […]

Akka Technologies, a French engineering firm, pitched a futurist concept for a train-plane vehicle to Boeing and others last month at the Paris Air Show, according to Bloomberg News. Passengers would board a pod at a local train station, according to Akka CEO Maurice Ricci, then at the airport, a cockpit and wings would be […]

A nonprofit group searching for vintage aircraft in Greenland has reported they found the site of a P-38 wreck from the “Lost Squadron” from World War II, buried about 340 feet deep in glacial ice. Arctic Hot Point Solutions surveyed the area using new ground-penetrating radar mounted on drones. When the radar showed what they […]