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A proposal under discussion in the Bush White House would allow the FAA to issue bonds that it would pay back by charging user fees, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend. Administration officials have been consulting Wall Street investment banks for advice on how to proceed with the bond sales, the WSJ said. […]

The forecast for Iqaluit calls for the “warm” spell to continue with temperatures in the same range as last week (but with the wind, it feels 20 degrees colder). What impact that will have on the testing isn’t clear. Although aircraft routinely experience extreme cold when flying at altitude, circumstances are different on the ground. […]

If all goes according to plan, the Airbus A380 will touch down on North American soil for the first time this morning but planespotters bent on sneaking a peek at the behemoth are warned to pack a pair of electric socks. The double-decker airliner is scheduled to land in Iqaluit, in the northern Canadian territory […]

Smith said the nighttime toe-in maneuver was too risky. “I would not have allowed our pilots to do that mission,” he said. Korhdt heard about the missing kids on the 11 p.m. TV news and called Gunsauls, who met him at the airport. Their Bell 407 helicopter has both night-vision equipment and forward looking infrared […]

A couple of good Samaritans in California are caught in that awkward maw between heroism and recklessness after some pretty interesting flying led to the rescue of two 11-year-olds last week. Using night-vision goggles, pilot David Gunsauls and helicopter owner Dan Kohrdt spotted Revina Dennis and her cousin Austin Rogers on a lava-rock-strewn hillside miles […]

Aviation safety consultants Wyvern Standard Ltd. recently performed a safety audit on the plane’s operator, Air Castle Corp., and reported after the crash that pilot Polanco-Espiallat did not have the 75 hours in the previous 90 days, or the 300 hours in the previous year, that Air Castle considers minimum for its pilot in command. […]

NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol told NTSB investigators that “chunks of slush” slid from the top of the chartered Challenger 601 he was aboard as it tried to take off from Montrose Airport in Colorado on Nov. 28, 2004. The temperature in Montrose was just below freezing and it was snowing. Although other aircraft were […]

While zipping around in fiberglass airplanes belching flame trails 20 feet long may sound challenging enough, it would appear that rocket races will be won on the ground. The planes carry only enough fuel for four minutes of powered flight and Diamandis said they’ll have up to 10 minutes of glide time. But with each […]

League founders Peter Diamandis and Granger Whitelaw told Space.com that at least three more teams, including one with a female pilot, are in the wings and they fully expect 10 racers to compete in 2007. “From our website alone, we’ve been approached by 50 different groups,” Diamandis said. Leading Edge’s racer should be ready for […]

It would appear the bar has already been set pretty high for would-be rocket-racing competitors. Two Air Force Reserve F-16 pilots are the first to toss their hats (not to mention $100,000) into the ring to compete in the Rocket Racing League. Robert “Bobaloo” Rickard and Don “Dagger” Grantham, of Phoenix, both active F-16 drivers, […]