Aviation News

Ever since Orville bet Wilbur he could squeeze out ten more feet on those first precarious runs at Kitty Hawk, aviators have been setting—and beating—records in the air. Not content with highest, fastest, longest, today’s aviation records include such obscurities as distance goals for RC aircraft and numbers of skydivers attempting a vertical formation. The […]

The pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 that crashed on March 10 appear to have inconsistently applied Boeing recommendations to disable the MCAS stall-protection system. But they failed to recover the aircraft for reasons still unclear. The Wall Street Journal, relying on sources who have seen the flight data recorder readout, reported that […]

NASA says the space debris released by India’s destruction of one of its own satellites threatens the International Space Station. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called the action unacceptable and a “terrible, terrible thing.” India destroyed the satellite intentionally last week in a test of anti-satellite technology it has developed. NASA said the satellite shattered into […]

Sling Aircraft’s Jean d’Assonville and Wayne Toddun successfully completed a nonstop trip from Torrance, California, to the Lakeland area for Sun ‘n Fun 2019 in 13.5 hours. Benefiting from early tailwinds and an additional 30 gallons of fuel (over the normal 45-gallon long-range tanks), the Sling TSi made the trip with ease, landing with 1.5 […]

The historic C-47 “That’s All Brother” stopped in at Sun ‘n Fun 2019 before heading overseas this summer as part of the D-Day Squadron, the American contingent participating in the Daks Over Normandy flyover which will be crossing the English Channel to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 2019. Pilot and member […]

The pilot who died in the crash of a Piper Navajo in Madeira, Ohio, had previously snagged a persistent fuel leak in the aircraft but flew it again a week later before the leak had been diagnosed and repaired. It’s not clear from the report whether pilot David Sapp was aware the aircraft had not […]

Adding to the FAA’s look-see into Boeing and an ongoing FBI investigation into the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the Senate Transportation Committee is launching its own investigation. This time is has to do with whistleblower complaints claiming the FAA improperly trained its safety inspectors to review the MAX 8 design and certification. […]

Daher has split the linear development of its highly regarded high-performance turboprop singles at Sun ‘n Fun 2019 with the unveiling of the refreshed TBM 910 and more detail on its more advanced TBM 940. The 940 was announced about a month ago and is a deluxe version of the type with increased automation, including […]

ADS-B may be a great thing for tracking airplanes—until they’re 50 miles offshore. To remedy that, Aireon’s space-based ADS-B tracking system goes live this week, allowing any ADS-B aircraft to be tracked in real time at almost any point on the globe and especially on congested oceanic tracks. Prior to Aireon’s system, ground-based ADS-B was […]

Famed Apollo astronaut Michael Collins will be the featured guest at EAA AirVenture 2019’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the Sea of Tranquility. Collins will be joined by Joe Engle, another Apollo alumnus, but who never flew in that program. Engle did fly on the Space Shuttle and is the […]