leadnews

As many as 1,600 to 2,000 bizjets were estimated to be not in compliance as of the deadline, according to Paul Clouse, director of RVSM Operations at ARINC, and many are still in the works. ARINC has been working as a consultant to operators, helping to lead them through the complex authorization process. “We are […]

FAA spokesman William Shumann had a similar report: “Our overall impression is that center controllers throughout our system are pleased with the change and like the flexibility of having more altitudes to offer. Anecdotally, we’re hearing that pilots are pleased as well,” he told AVweb in an e-mail on Tuesday. “So far there have been […]

Smooth Transition Reported Domestic RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums) took effect in the airspace above the U.S. one week ago, today, and (so far) the transition seems to have gone without glitches and even (which is harder to believe) with hardly any griping. “Everything went pretty smoothly. It was basically a non-event,” National Business Aviation […]

Any of these private companies that actually get hardware into sub-space may have to dodge military devices. The Air Force is planning to launch unmanned aircraft that will exploit the altitudes above 65,000 feet for simple tasks like communications relay within the next year. Helium-filled balloons (sound familiar?) would likely get that job. But over […]

Two companies not involved in the X Prize competition have recently ramped up their efforts to get into space. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has started building a testing facility in Texas for his Blue Origin company. Blue Origin has been doing design work in Seattle for several years on its relaunchable liquid-fueled spacecraft, which it […]

X Prize Also-Rans Still In Hunt The all but empty reaches of near space could get noticeably more crowded in coming years if all who plan to exploit its potential get their projects off the ground. Although Burt Rutan and Paul Allen’s Mojave Space Ventures claimed the $10 million Ansari X Prize as the first […]

Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania pilot who used his aircraft to cause a series of potential disasters claims the punishment meted out is too harsh. John Salamone was jailed for up to 23 months (he’s appealing) and also forfeited his Piper Cherokee for an allegedly drunken spree over Pennsylvania and New Jersey a year ago that forced […]

Crime And Punishment No good deed goes unpunished, it seems, although we’d be surprised to see the FAA throw the book at Jeremy Johnson. Johnson, battling high winds and rain, used his private helicopter to help rescue a southern Utah family from a massive flood that washed away their home and most of their possessions […]

Of course, the biggest cheerleader for the super jumbo is Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic has ordered six. Branson is keeping the hype alive by announcing that the Virgin planes will have on-board casinos and even suites with double beds. “Maybe now there will be two ways of getting lucky on a Virgin plane,” […]

But Will It Fly? Well, it’s here, it’s big and it’s beautiful, in a plus-size kind of way. The question remains, will the Airbus A380, which was rolled out in a splashy ceremony on Tuesday, take off? The practical answer to that question will come in March with the first test flight. But as airlines […]