Aviation News

That the death of John Glenn on Thursday came as no surprise made it no less sad. For my generation, Glenn was an indelible figure of towering accomplishment. Given his chosen profession and the risks that defined it, living to the age of 95 was itself a feat, never mind being launched into space twice. […]

Former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn is in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital with an undisclosed illness. Glenn, 95, was the first American to orbit the Earth and the last surviving member of the original astronauts in the Mercury program. He was admitted to James Cancer Hospital more than a week ago, and a family […]

The Atlanta Technical College, in Atlanta, Georgia, is no longer certified to offer aviation maintenance technician training, the FAA said this week. The FAA issued an emergency order alleging that the college failed to keep proper records for students. Some grade records were incomplete or lacked instructor signatures, the FAA said, and several students who […]

As airlines continue to unbundle what’s covered by a basic fare, United Airlines announced this week that it will begin charging for the use of overhead space in its cabins. While discount airlines such as Spirit have charged for the overhead for several years, United is the first major airline to do so. The Washington […]

I know it’s fashionable to decry flying on the airlines as the mass transportation equivalent of a slave ship, but I’ve trained myself to tune out the insults and degradations of airline travel. The airlines usually get you there at a fare less than you can fly yourself over the same distance. That’s just economic […]

With winter on the way for much of the U.S., the FAA has released a new training video about the dangers of ice-induced stalls. “Much has occurred since NASA’s original 1998 ice-contaminated tailplane stall video,” the FAA said. “The information in this training video supersedes, supplants, and replaces the instruction in all previous NASA tail […]

President-elect Donald Trump said in a tweet Tuesday morning that Boeing’s costs for the next Air Force One, now in development, are “out of control,” and added, “Cancel order!” The costs, according to Trump, are already up to more than $4 billion. Boeing responded with a short statement, noting that “We are currently under contract […]

U.S. pilots now can buy a factory-built FAA-type-certified autogyro for the first time “probably in at least 60 years,” Bob Snyder, program manager at AutoGyroUSA, told AVweb on Monday. The Calidus autogyro, which has been flying in Europe since 2009, recently was awarded a type certificate in the seldom-used Part 23 primary category by FAA […]

Rockwell Collins’ purchase of aircraft interior finisher B/E Aerospace has attracted the attention of some Wall Street wheeler-dealers who are suggesting it is Rockwell Collins itself that should be up for sale. Starboard Value, a hedge fund that specializes in investing in undervalued companies, has purchased an unknown amount of Rockwell Collins stock in recent […]

VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s replacement for the original SpaceShipTwo, which crashed in October of 2014, glided to a landing for the first time Saturday after three months of captive testing slung below WhiteKnightTwo. The 2014 crash killed copilot Michael Alsbury and injured pilot Peter Siebold. Unity separated from the mothership at 10:40 a.m. PST and […]