briefs

Martin Halstead attracted international attention last month when he started up his own airline in the U.K. at age 19, booking flights between the Isle of Man and Edinburgh. Dubbed the “Baby Branson” for his youthful entrepreneurship, Halstead’s AlphaOne airline has so far been off to a rocky start, facing delays and cancellations. Maintenance problems […]

The Ae 270 “Spirit” single-engine turboprop, in development in the Czech Republic for close to 10 years, last week won its EASA certification. FAA certification is expected to follow shortly … but it will likely be another two to three years before the aircraft is ready for the market. Ibis Aerospace, with partners Aero Vodochody […]

When New Zealand’s Gliding Grand Prix launches above the Southern Alps next month, spectators will have a whole new view of the action, thanks to state-of-the-art real-time 3D animated computer graphics created by Animation Research Ltd (ARL). The New Zealand company developed graphics for the America’s Cup and also designed simulators to train air traffic […]

The Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be the takeoff site for Steve Fossett’s next attempt to set a record for the longest flight of an airplane, NASA announced on Friday. Fossett plans to fly Virgin Atlantic’s GlobalFlyer aircraft around the world and then across the Atlantic a second time, solo, without stopping or refueling. […]

Raw metal that was sold as meeting certain specifications for aviation use, sold by M&M International Aerospace Metals of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in fact did not meet those specs, the FAA said last week. The metal was sold to various distributors, type certificate holders, production approval holders, experimental aircraft distributors, and a variety of military […]

COLUMNS As the Beacon Turns #96: Who You Calling Heavy?An early morning departure from San Francisco in his nearly half-million pound heavy jet reminds Michael Maya Charles of the value of looking carefully at aircraft performance when you are confronted with something out of the ordinary.

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In a poll of pilots’ all-time favorite airplanes, the DC-3 would surely come out in the top tier, so when we hear about a special event to honor these venerable fliers, we like to let you know. This Saturday is not only the 102nd anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight but also the 70th […]

Pilots for Delta Air Lines struck a tentative deal over the weekend, averting a possible strike that the airline had characterized as a “murder-suicide” scenario. “The pilots came out on top of this skirmish, but I’ve been around for a long time and I know who is going to win the war — Delta,” industry […]