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Now, it seems hard to believe that anything powered by a couple of AA batteries could potentially bring down an airplane but the pilots of a Citation lased while on approach to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey a couple of weeks ago were sufficiently moved by the experience to help local authorities track down the […]

Better Notification, Training Urged Some airline pilots say there should be some kind of system to inform them of recent laser attacks and some fresh thought put into what can be done to guard against them in light of a rash of incidents over the past couple of weeks. “Pilots want a generalized warning and […]

And as we try to quench our curiosity about a fallen adventurer, a modern aviation pioneer is getting set to accomplish something Earhart and her contemporaries could barely have dreamed of. Despite a three-week delay in the preparations, Steve Fossett and his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer team are confident they’ll soon claim a clutch of records […]

While Jourdan and his crew (paid and paying) troll the seas, it’s possible a terrestrial search for Earhart will resume on the island of Tinian, although no firm plans are in the works. As AVweb reported earlier, an archeological team spent several days last November digging at the site where a former American soldier says […]

Ocean Team Hopes To Solve Mystery Just as nature abhors a vacuum, human nature can’t abide a mystery. David Jourdan, a Maine marine explorer, hopes to launch an effort this year to put our collective mind at rest as to the fate of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan. It’s been almost 70 years […]

A stray cow wandered on to the runway at Banda Aceh, in Sumatra, and was hit by a landing cargo plane. The landing gear collapsed and the airport, the only one of any size in the area, was closed for seven hours before the plane could be moved. And in India, aftershocks from the earthquake […]

NATCA Offers Expertise The FAA is being urged to send volunteers to the relief effort in South Asia to help iron out the transportation infrastructure problems that are hampering the tsunami disaster relief efforts. National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President John Carr says the 20,000 members of his union could provide invaluable on-site assistance […]

“We have a critical need for airplanes and helicopters given the wide geographic expanse and difficult terrain,” James Morris, head of the U.N. World Food Program, said Friday. “We would be very grateful if countries were able to urgently help us meet our air transport needs.” Yet some pilots who have volunteered to help have […]

The status of airfields and navaids is uncertain in much of the region, and assessment teams are working to determine the status of facilities. Meanwhile, many aircraft are limited to flying VFR and only in daylight, though many have flown despite pounding rains. At the Port Blair airport in India, half of the 12,000-foot runway […]

Helicopters Finally Arrive In the aftermath of the devastating tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean coastline last week, military and civilian aircraft from around the world are providing critical relief. Desperately needed helicopters arrived over the weekend in Indonesia, finally bringing help into remote areas where airplanes could do no more than drop supplies. The […]