Aviation News

easyJet, a leading regional airline operating in Europe, has partnered with U.S. based startup Wright Electric to develop a small electric-powered aircraft that could efficiently serve on short-haul airline routes. Last week, the airline confirmed the project is progressing—Wright Electric has applied for a patent on “a novel motor design” for “an easyJet-sized aircraft” that […]

The Wall Street Journal says (subscription required) retired Delta Air Lines VP and former line pilot Steve Dickson is the new favorite to become the next FAA administrator. The Journal says Dan Elwell, who has been the acting administrator since January, “quietly pulled out of the running” because it didn’t seem likely he would be […]

An ID plate from Apollo 11’s lunar module Eagle sold for $468,500 at an auction of 2,000 items of memorabilia owned by the first man on the moon Saturday. The auction raised more than $7.4 million and was held on behalf of Neil Armstrong’s family. A piece of the propeller and wing from the Wright […]

For several years, a company called Commuter Craft has been showing a kit airplane called the Innovator. As the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase, the company’s Richard Hogan gave AVweb an update on the project. view on YouTube

Late in 2018, the FAA confirmed that it’s planning to raise the 1320-pound limit on light sport aircraft. But is that really a good idea? In this video report recorded at the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase, AVweb polled a few manufacturers to find out. view on YouTube

This week, AVweb‘s news roundup found reports of a new simulator for a Florida flight school, a scholarship for aspiring pilots, the launch of a STEM working group in the U.K., an AML expansion for fuel quantity senders and international garbage handling authority earned by a Washington FBO. ALSIM has announced the sale of an […]

The failure of a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle on Oct. 11 was caused by abnormal separation of one of the rocket’s boosters, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos. The committee investigating the incident says the malfunctioning booster hit the vehicle’s core stage in the fuel tank area, resulting in its decompression and a loss of attitude […]

Seventy years after it was lost during World War II, amateur divers found the wreckage of a B-24 Liberator bomber in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Italy. The U.S. Air Force airplane was badly damaged during an aerial engagement with the Luftwaffe in 1944, and the crew was forced to ditch. Several of […]

The Government Accountability Office has bitten on AOPA’s two-year-long campaign to end what it says is gouging by FBOs at some airports. At the request of House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster and aviation subcommittee chairman Frank LoBiondo the GAO is specifically looking at whether the FAA is doing its job ensuring airports that receive federal […]

Virgin Orbit has rolled out its solution for making space more accessible to those who want to put small payloads into orbit. The company has modified a Boeing 747-400 to take a 57,000-pound, 70-foot rocket on a launcher between the inboard left engine and the fuselage. The rocket, called LauncherOne, was lifted into place and […]