Aviation News

NBAA and four businesses have petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the FAA’s deal with the City of Santa Monica to shorten the airport’s runway. Under the deal, the runway would be cut immediately to 3,500 feet from almost 5,000, limiting its use and likely forcing some of the current tenants to immediately […]

The next Air Force One should be anything other than a Boeing 747; even Northrop Grumman’s next-generation stealth bomber would be a better choice, says a report by Wright Williams & Kelly (WWK). President Trump has tweeted that he finds the $3.2B projection for the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program to replace the Air Force’s Boeing […]

Lancair International announced last summer it would sell off its older designs and focus on its newer Evolution aircraft, and recently the company, now known as Evolution Aircraft Company, said it has found a buyer. Mark Huffstutler, founder of the aircraft modification firm Sierra Industries, based in Texas, and his son Conrad Huffstutler will assume […]

General aviation pilots have several auto-fume modes. One of them is ADS-B and anything to do with medicals is a good way to get people spun up. So is the argument that the administrator of the FAA should be a pilot. This is a perennial and it came up last week when President Donald Trump […]

The accident rate for helicopters has fallen for the third year in a row, the FAA said on Monday. In raw numbers, there were 106 helicopter accidents in 2016, including 17 fatal accidents, a 12 percent decrease compared to the previous year and a 27 percent decrease compared to 2013. “The FAA and the helicopter […]

When you add high winds to a STOL competition, the results can be pretty amazing. Every February the Healthy Bastards Bush Pilot Championships at Omaka Aerodrome near Blenheim, New Zealand, attracts the country’s top precision pilots in an event similar to those popular in Alaska. This year, a howling wind blew down the grass runway […]

The first civil version of the latest Lockheed Hercules transport, the LM-100J, closely modeled on the military C-130J, rolled off the assembly linein Marietta, Georgia Thursday morning. Lockheed Martin told reporters they expect customers will use aircraft for oversized cargo transport, aerial spraying and firefighting, austere field operations, and search and rescue applications. Although demilitarized, […]

The majority of Americans across gender, political affiliation and age groups oppose privatization of the U.S. air traffic control system, according to a recent poll. Although voters surveyed were evenly split on the merits of privatizing government services generally, when asked about operation of the air traffic control system, those surveyed were opposed to privatization […]

Testifying before the House and Senate Armed Services committees this week, leaders of the Air Force and Navy described the billion-dollar economic impact the national pilot shortage is having on their services. Gen. Steven Wilson, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, told congressional leaders, “We can recruit pilots without a problem. The problem […]

Choosing which airplane to build is something deserving of serious consideration. There are so many cool designs and differing capabilities, it can leave you scratching your head. Taking a systematic approach to selection can eliminate the pain and error from the process. Let’s explore what’s involved and how to get off to a good start. […]