briefs

An Australian company has developed what it claims is the first affordable helicopter flight simulator. Geosim Technologies unveiled its AUD$70,000 sim in Brisbane on Friday after it received certification from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The company says it’s one of only three helicopter simulators available and is half the price of the others. That, […]

SpaceShipOne will be going for the gold on its next forays to the edge of space. Scaled Composites President Burt Rutan told Wired News last week the history-making private spacecraft, whose somewhat troubled first flight on June 21 was the first privately funded, civilian-crewed space flight, will attempt three flights within a two-week span to […]

Airplanes and most of what keeps them flying will soon be less costly in Rhode Island after the state apparently thought better of its sometimes-confusing attempts to make aviation pay. Gov. Donald L. Carcieri signed legislation on Monday that will repeal laws that taxed aircraft sales and associated services. Although the taxes were never popular, […]

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_______COLUMNS The Savvy Aviator #7: Owner In CommandEvery pilot understands the concept of “pilot in command,” which places absolute responsibility and final authority for aircraft operation squarely on the pilot’s shoulders. But what about when the aircraft isn’t flying? AVweb’s Mike Busch argues that aircraft owners need to accept absolute responsibility and final authority for […]

What George Bush can do, Steven Eastman, of Renton, Wash., did perhaps a little better. The former U.S. president made headlines around the world a month ago when he skydived on his 80th birthday. Eastman celebrated his 94th birthday on July 4 with a tandem leap from 12,000 feet. What’s more, his son Hal and […]

Luck was in the air for a few GA pilots over the past week as they walked, swam and were pulled away from some potentially disastrous circumstances. Probably the most public examples was Ramsay Shockley’s unplanned swim in Jamaica Bay, New York, in front of thousands of beach-goers. Shockley, 25, was towing a banner with […]

Imagine dropping off your 16- or 17-year-old at camp and picking up a licensed pilot six weeks later. The Royal Canadian Air Cadets have been doing just that for hundreds of teens every summer for the last 50 years and now parents of a few of them can watch the miracle unfold via the Internet. […]

Scientists at Ohio State University are working on a “mute button” for jet engine exhaust noise. Researchers Mohammad Samimy and Igor Adamovich have used high-voltage electrical current to change the patterns of exhaust turbulence, one of the main causes of engine noise. If they can turn it into a practical system, they’ll give pilots the […]