Aviation News

Faulty design and manufacturing of engine components were among likely causes of the Orbital Sciences rocket explosion a year ago, according to a report (PDF) this week from a NASA-appointed review team. The unmanned Antares rocket, carrying cargo to the International Space Station, exploded at a commercial launch site in Virginia on Oct. 28, 2014. […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world turned up a major expansion for Yingling Aviation,ONE Aviation’s new Chinese distributor,and two announcements from the education front – a new aerospace event in Nevada, and K-12 grants awarded to two teachers.Yingling Aviation has announced a significant expansion to its propeller maintenance, repair and overhaul operations with […]

A team headed by NASA engineer Mark Moore plans to fly a modified Tecnam P2006T driven by an array of small propellers powered by electric batteries. Moore explains to AVweb’s Mary Grady how this project could completely upend the design rules for GA aircraft of the future. Duration: 5:34 File Size: 6.4 MB download here

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found a first flight for a customer-built Sonex jet, a new home for the Seaplane Pilots Association, upcoming inductees to EAA’s Halls of Fame, and a partnership between two Canadian aviation organizations. Sonex Aircraft extends its congratulations to Redge Greenberg of Durango, Colorado, who made the first […]

Richard “Dick” Taylor, known for his decades of work on jet designs, died earlier this month at 93 at his home in Seattle. He was a test pilot and later director of engineering for Boeing, where his portfolio included the B-29 tanker, the B-47, B-52 and later, the 737. The Seattle Times noted that Taylor […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found an Amazon Fire release from Hilton Software,progress on Pratt & Whitney Canada’s new turboprop engine, updated products from Mountain High Oxygen, andKansas State’s opening of its new UAS facility.Hilton Software LLC, a leader in advanced mobile aviation technology and a United States Department of Defense contractor, […]

SkyPan International, the drone operator that was fined $1.9 million this month by the FAA for aerial photography flights, maintains it has always operated legally and safely. In a response to the FAA’s charges that it conducted unauthorized flights in New York and Chicago between March 2012 and December 2014, SkyPan says it “operates only […]

When it comes to drones—talking about them, writing about them, filming them or considering them in almost any context—I think hysteria is still the standard condition. Even we reported last month that a million of the damn things could be given as Christmas gifts. The source of this was Rich Swayze, who told an Airlines […]

Conflicts involving amateur-operated drones made the news again this week, one involving an irritated neighbor who disabled one with a gun. In Louisiana, Aaron Hernandez lost his $1,200 quadcopter Monday night while flying it around his father’s house outside Baton Rouge. Hernandez told WBRZ 2 the neighbors had expressed objections to his drone flying before, […]

AVweb’s search of what’s new in aviation found a few STC milestones reported byPlane Dynamix,Power Flow and Hartzell Propeller, and an announcement from Sonex Aircraft ofscholarships established in memory of Jeremy Monnett and Mike Clark.Plane Dynamixannounced its acquisition of Art Mattson’s line of FAA-approved airframe and engine STCs for Piper PA-28 series aircraft. Many of […]