Aviation News

Newly installed AOPA President Mark Baker said Wednesday that the key to pilot recruitment and retention is protecting access to airports. All things in aviation start with an airport. Weve got to make that accessible and fun, Baker told AVweb in an extended interview on Wednesday, which is available in todays podcast. He added that […]

In this exclusive AVweb podcast, AOPA’s newly installed president, Mark Baker, says the association will adopt an airport-centric means of promoting aviation and will concentrate on a regional strategy to reach the membership. Baker also told AVweb that all of the association’s activities – from fund raising to member support to starting new business lines […]

Lufthansa and two leasing companies have placed orders at a combined total of roughly $19 billion (not including discounts) for large jets that don’t yet exist in Boeing’s line-up, the 787-10 and the 777-9X. The jets currently exist only as computer designs. Planned production of the 787-10, which will be the largest of the Dreamliner […]

China is expecting to lead the region’s demand for new commercial pilots as it takes delivery of more than 5,500 aircraft over the next two decades, and its current pilot population may already be stretching work hours to meet demand, so changes are likely coming. China’s civil aviation had a shortfall of 10,000 pilots in […]

The Air Force, through Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh, has publicized an account (perhaps the first) involving the engagement of an F-22 Raptor and Iranian F-4s flying within 16 miles of an MQ-1 Predator drone as the UAV flew over international waters off the coast of Iran. Welsh delivered the account Tuesday, saying the […]

The stretched version of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, the 787-9, can carry 290 passengers (40 more than the 787-8) over a greater distance and took its first flight, Tuesday, at Boeing’s Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The jet landed with no significant squawks and is ready to continue flight testing this week without the need to […]

First reports regarding the fatal crash of a Lancair 320 piloted by U.S. pilot David Riggs while flying in northeastern China for a movie state that he was attempting to “waterski” the aircraft across the surface of a lake, on its wheels, in bad weather. Chinese officials said Wednesday that a substantial portion of the […]

A computer glitch at United Airlines Thursday led to a yet undisclosed number of passengers gaining access to tickets sold to them for as little as zero dollars, plus fees, and it appears the company has decided to honor those prices. At the root of the problem for United were airfares accidentally filed at $0. […]

The prototype fully rigid Aeroscraft airship produced by Aeros Corp has hovercraft landing gear and operates with a buoyancy system similar to that used by submarines and this week it received its experimental airworthiness certification from the FAA and began flight testing at Tustin, Calif. Aeros’ prototype is 266 feet long and 97 feet wide. […]

Many round-the-world pilots are in a hurry to get the trip done, but Calle Hedberg of Capetown, South Africa is taking a different route. He has eight months to do the trip in his kit-built Ravin 500, and he plans to savor every moment. AVweb’s Russ Niles flew with him after he got a float […]