Flight Safety

Authorities have found the body of a pilot who fell out of a Zenith 601 aircraft at about 2,500 feet over East Brainerd, Tenn., just east of Chattanooga on Friday. The man was not identified but the latest reports suggest he was an experienced pilot who had recently purchased the aircraft and was being trained […]

Texas will take over funding of air traffic control towers at 13 airports that will lose them to the federal government’s sequester cuts. The state’s department of transportation made the decision on Thursday but it won’t become official until the Texas Transportation Commission ratifies it. The commission is meeting in an emergency session next week […]

The Solar Impulse team Thursday announced plans for a multi-stop flight of its solar-powered aircraft, HB-SIA, departing the San Francisco area’s Moffett Field in early May and concluding the trip in early July at New York’s JFK. Planned stops include Sky Harbor Airport, Ariz.; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; and Washington, D.C. One stop prior to D.C. […]

Thursday, Eclipse Aerospace earned an amended production certificate from the FAA, “authorizing the final assembly, test, and certification of the new production Eclipse 550” jet, the company announced. Earlier this month, Eclipse powered up the first truly new aircraft to roll out of its Albuquerque factory in nearly five years. The amended production certificate grants […]

So now that all the towers are closed, what are we to do? Will chaos reign? Have the dogs of doom been loosed? Not quite, but depending on where you fly, there could be some challenges ahead that will be unnerving. And just to put some numbers on it, the FAA-announced closures will shutter 149 […]

A 19-year-old man who pointed a powerful laser at a Netjets Cessna Citation and then at a police helicopter that responded to the pilot’s complaints in Burbank, Calif., was sentenced on Monday to 30 months in prison. Adam Gardenhire pleaded guilty to the charge, which was made a federal crime last year. At sentencing, “Gardenhire […]

Twenty seven years after the fact, Dick Rutan says he’s somewhat astonished that he and Jeana Yeager made it around the world in the Burt Rutan-designed Voyager, given the rudimentary avionics of the day and the fact that the airplane had so little surplus load factor that moderate turbulence would have torn it apart. As […]

Not every air traffic control tower slated for shutdown will stop operating at once, according to an FAA list posted online by AOPA on Monday. The first group of 24 towers will close on April 7, another 46 on April 21, and 79 on May 5. The Lakeland, Fla., tower will remain open until April […]

Boeing launched a 787 from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., on Monday afternoon and flew a two-hour test flight with its redesigned battery system. The 787 returned and landed with no apparent problems, The Associated Press reported. Boeing had said in a statement prior to the flight that during the check flight, the crew would […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb‘s latest “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Baxley Municipal Airport (KBHC) in Baxley, Georgia. AVweb reader Robert Inman recommends adding it to your Sun ‘n Fun flight plan: This facility has been completely remodeled with an emphasis on pilot efficiency and comfort. The young manager, […]