briefs

The heads of aviation agencies in the European Union are scheduled to meet Friday in Brussels to discuss the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that foreign airlines will be required to place armed law-enforcement officers on flights to the United States “where necessary.” Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, spoke out […]

RTI International, a research firm in Hampton, Va., needs pilots to help in a NASA-funded experiment to evaluate the use of new display concepts in a general aviation cockpit. The results will help produce procedures and guidelines for the design and use of such display concepts, RTI said. The experiment will replicate a typical general […]

Last Thursday in California’s Mojave desert, the latest creation of Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites team rolled out for its debut. Described by one reporter on the scene as “looking like the product of an unnatural union between a glider and a Zeppelin,” the single-jet-powered, pressurized GlobalFlyer is designed to fly around the world nonstop, without […]

With the reduction in the U.S. national threat level from “Orange” back to “Yellow,” most of the airspace restrictions that go along with that have eased. And on Friday, the FAA also relaxed some restrictions that have been in place since Sept. 11, 2001, including those near military sites in Washington State, Hawaii, Utah, and […]

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVwebs NO-COST twice monthly Business AVflash? Reporting on breaking news, Business AVflash also focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the Business of Aviation. Business AVflash is a must read! Sign up today at https://avweb.com/profile/

_______COLUMNS Say Again? #32: Another YearWhile other pundits are making New Years’ resolutions, AVweb’s Don Brown is looking back — back to when he first became a safety representative for NATCA – the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Sadly, the safety problems he noticed then still haven’t gotten better.

A longtime volunteer at a New York flight museum has been charged after trying to sell what the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome claims is one of its artifacts on eBay. But Christopher Rogine, 48, of Red Hook, told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the huge parachute that helped lower an Apollo spacecraft to Earth was his to […]

Pilots and flight attendants want a central repository for reports about people who ask too many questions, follow them in airports and take pictures on their airplanes just in case those involved aren’t merely curious, going the same way or have a few extra frames of film to use. Some suspicious employees tell their union, […]

For someone who has everything, how about an aircraft carrier? The bidding was hot for a decommissioned carrier offered on eBay last week. It went to at least $90 million for the “demilitarized” vessel, which may have been a former British carrier also used by Australia. The ship was valued at $2 million in scrap […]

Something that will almost surely land you in jail almost anywhere else can win you prizes and glory in Malaysia. The country has created a travel niche for itself by permitting tourists to leap from tall buildings in competition. Kuala Lumpur hosted the Malaysia International Championship Extreme Skydive and World Base Cup last week. A […]