Aviation News

Fans of the restored B-29 “Doc,” which flew last July after 16 years of effort by scores of volunteers in Wichita, have long yearned for the chance to see the airplane fly at EAA AirVenture, hopefully in formation with the only other flying B-29, the CAF’s FiFi. Doc’s Friends aren’t saying yet if that historic […]

Using a biofuel mix to power jet engines reduces particle emissions in their exhaust by as much as 50 to 70 percent compared to conventional fuels, according to a recent NASA study. The new research results, which were published in the scientific journal Nature last week, were derived from a test series using a DC-8 […]

Cessna has started assembly-line production of its Cessna Citation Longitude, in Wichita, Textron said on Monday in a news release. Also, the third jet in the flight-test program has completed its first flight. It will be used mainly to develop avionics and systems, as well as to collect flight-simulator data. The first aircraft flew in […]

I got a haircut this week so my special interest hat fits just right. Also, my choir robe is back from the cleaners to I can preach in the full resplendence of sartorial perfection. Yes, that’s right, I’m going to yammer briefly about the bid for ATC privatization that popped up—to no one’s particular surprise—in […]

The last remaining tools and equipment are being installed at Icon Aircraft’s composite production facility in Mexico, and the company says the factory is scheduled to be fully completed in April, with the first set of parts sent to the Vacaville, California, assembly line in June. The carbon fiber parts for the Icon A5 were […]

The proposed budget of the United States, presented in abridged form today by the White House, would eliminate the Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program, reports The New York Times. EAS currently provides the only form of commercial air transportation to 60 communities in Alaska and 115 communities in the lower 48 states, […]

Luigi Pascale, the founder, president and chief preliminary design officer at Tecnam Aircraft, died at age 93 on Tuesday, after a brief illness. Pascale’s interest in aviation started young, when he entered model airplane races with his brother Giovanni. He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and in 1951, he and Giovanni built their […]

Just as the world of manned aircraft struggles to understand drones, the unmanned world is trying to grasp how autonomous or remotely piloted aircraft will fit into the national airspace system. “Most of the activity is in what’s called the Part 107 market, which is the line of sight market,” says Brad Hayden, president of […]

The B-21 Raider long-range stealth bomber, under development by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Air Force, has passed its preliminary design review, according to a recent report in DefenseNews. “It’s making great progress, and we’re pleased with the way it’s headed,” said Gen. Stephen Wilson, the Air Force’s vice chief of staff, at a recent […]

Embraer, which is based in Brazil, now is forming new innovation campuses in Silicon Valley and Boston, the company announced on Tuesday. “A major transformation is unfolding worldwide, and it has been accelerated by the evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles,” said Antonio Campello, Embraer’s director of corporate innovation, who will […]