briefs

A second Delta Air Lines pilot has suffered eye injuries resulting from a laser being pointed at his aircraft. The unidentified first officer on a 737 was taken for medical treatment after reportedly being hit with the laser while the plane was on approach to Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport last Tuesday. The plane landed safely. […]

Growth can be a pain and the market’s thirst for Cirrus airplanes may force the company to shift some of its production from Duluth to Grand Forks, N.D. Cirrus wants to build an additional 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space to increase production from 12 planes a week to 16. But problems with contaminated soils […]

Everything needed to start your own amphibious airplane company will go on the auction block at EAA AirVenture on July 27. Starting at 4:30 p.m. in the Vette Theatre, on the AirVenture grounds next to the museum, Higgenbotham Auctioneers International will sell the type certificate, STCs, tooling, fixtures, engineering data and inventory for the Lake […]

At least 12 aircraft owners at Chino Airport in California have been unable to get to their airplanes for more than a month because of their neighbor’s hobby of collecting luminescent dialed instruments. San Bernardino County officials say there are enough old airplane instruments painted with radium-226 inside two hangars occupied by Preservation Aviation Inc. […]

The high price of avgas has a Brazilian plane-maker turning to alcohol. Neiva, a subsidiary of Embraer, delivered the world’s first production model ethanol-powered crop duster in March and has plans to build 70 more this year. For 30 years, Brazil has been developing ethanol-fueled vehicles to reduce dependence on oil imports and at least […]

Earth Day was celebrated in silence on California’s high desert as an electric car company marked an aviation milestone. AC Propulsion’s SoLong unmanned aerial vehicle (it looks like a big model glider) landed at 12:45 a.m. on April 22, having spent a little longer than 24 hours aloft flying on battery and solar power alone, […]

A major improvement in turboprop sales helped GA manufacturers record another strong quarter in the first three months of 2005. Turboprop sales jumped 67.6 percent over the same period last year with a total of 57 sales compared to 34 in Q1 2004, according to stats released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) last […]

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COLUMNS Say Again? #49: Come Up a Bad CloudA storm is brewing: Warm, wet air (increasing airline traffic) is about to collide with cold, dry air (decreasing air traffic controllers and FAA budget cutting) … and the lightning spark will be all the new GPS approaches. “Storm-Tracker” (and AVweb columnist) Don Brown gives the forecast […]