briefs

Well, when you’re running a space program with mostly volunteers, you have to expect some hiccups. The da Vinci Project, a Canadian effort to launch a civilian space flight, has pushed back test flights because of the looming holiday season. “Over the holidays, some people become extremely available and other people become totally unavailable,” said […]

New Zealand aviation officials failed to take action against a pilot involved in a fatal crash despite numerous warnings about his competence and attitude, a coroner’s inquest was told on Thursday. The inquest is reviewing a June 6, 2003, crash near Christchurch that killed pilot Michael Bannerman and seven passengers aboard the Air Adventures Piper […]

Air Canada contends the country’s language laws are hurting its ability to compete with budget-priced rivals. Representatives of the struggling airline, which recently emerged from court-ordered bankruptcy restructuring, appeared before a House of Commons committee pleading for relaxation of rules that force it to comply with the Official Languages Act, a law that ensures service […]

It could soon be illegal to fly an airplane drunk in Pennsylvania (but don’t do it anywhere else, either). Last January, when John Salamone took his plane on an allegedly drunken spree of busted regs and near-collisions through some of the country’s most crowded airspace, prosecutors discovered that there actually isn’t a law against drinking […]

_______COLUMNS The Savvy Aviator #12: Tire TLCTires are the Rodney Dangerfields of aviation: They get no respect. Proper tire care isn’t rocket science, and can pay hefty dividends in economy and safety. AVweb’s Mike Busch tells you what you need to know. ___________SKYWRITINGS Zen And The Art Of Pumpkin BombingToday is Thanksgiving, and in honor […]

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Sometimes the dearly departed simply won’t leave. And when you’re trying to scatter their ashes from an airplane, that can be an embarrassing, not to mention messy, problem with a much less romantic and symbolic outcome than planned. “The poor departed one generally ends up inside a vacuum cleaner rather than the clean air round […]

It’s the little airplane company that seems to refuse to die. For the third time this century (the new one), new owners and new management at Mooney are vowing to revive the legendary name and restore it to prominence. In fact, it’s like Mooney is starting all over again. That’s just fine with Gretchen Jahn, […]

If you went to, from or through O’Hare in the past month, chances are your flight was on time or a lot closer to it — excepting yesterday when storms pushed delays into the several hours long category. FAA officials told reporters Tuesday that between Nov. 1 and Nov. 15 (when new rules capped flights […]