Aviation News

Explosions this morning at Cape Canaveral, where SpaceX is testing an unmanned rocket to prepare for a satellite launch, were due to “an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload,” SpaceX said following the incident, which shook buildings in the area. “Per standard procedure, the pad was clear […]

When JetBlue’s Flight 387 took off this morning from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, headed for Cuba, it was the first commercial airline to fly that route since 1961. For First Officer Frank Barreras, the trip held an extra level of poignancy — his father, Frank Sr., fled Cuba 55 years ago, aboard one of the last […]

The private-jet market overall has been slumping so far this year, as reported in the latest GAMA tally, but a closer look at the data shows that small private jets are in growth mode, according to a recent analysis by the Wichita Eagle. The Eagle found that shipments of small and midsize jets grew by […]

With new FAA rules now in place, as of Monday, for operators to secure a commercial drone certificate, it’s been projected that their numbers will quickly outnumber manned-aircraft pilots. The FAA has estimated the number of certified commercial drone operators could exceed 600,000 within a year, equal to the total number of pilots from student […]

Police said a first officer’s blood alcohol content was 0.3, or seven times the legal limit, when he was tested at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan, last Thursday and removed from the cockpit of a Talon Air Challenger 604 charter flight. The captain of the flight, Manny Ramirez, reportedly noticed that the first […]

Authorities in Scotland removed two United Airlines pilots from a Newark-bound flight Saturday and charged them with being intoxicated.According to news reports, police charged Carlos Licona, 45, and Paul Grebnc, 35, with violation of the U.K.’s transport safety laws. The pilots were about to depart Glasgow en route to Newark’s Liberty International Airport. There were […]

Textron Aviation is moving production of the Cessna Caravan from Wichita to Independence, Kansas, to make room for new products, including its new flagship jet and high-performance turboprop. The company announced the move on Friday. “This move will utilize capacity at our Independence, Kansas, facility, while making our Wichita work force available for new products […]

The late and much-celebrated fighter pilot General Robin Olds delighted in telling the story of sitting in the front seat of an F-4 headed into visual-range combat in Vietnam and telling his younger backseater that he had it on good authority that what they were seeing wasn’t actually happening. That is, the F-4 design brief […]

AVweb‘s search of aviation news worldwide found announcements from Bell Helicopter, USAIG, Pathways to Aviation and Thrush Aircraft. Bell Helicopter announced its joint participation with sister company Textron Aviation at the 13th annual Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (LABACE) held Aug. 30 through Sept. 1 at Aeroporto de Congonhas at So Paulo, Brazil. […]

NASA has chosen five new aviation-related technologies that it intends to study intently over the next two years as part of its ongoing Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project, the agency said recently. The researchers will focus on fuel cells, the use of 3D printing to improve electric-motor performance, energy storage in lithium-air batteries, ways to change […]