News

NASA is conducting a study using sophisticated imaging technology to track how blood flows in the brains of airline pilots as they interact with the sophisticated electronic gear that clutters today’s cockpits. “What we hope to achieve by this study is a way to sensitively — and, ultimately, unobtrusively — determine when pilots become mentally […]

About 500 production employees at Cirrus Design will be furloughed for about a month each as the company cuts production to clear out built up inventory. Bill King, Cirrus’s VP of Business Administration told AVweb in a telephone interview staff were told of the move on Tuesday. Only production employees are affected and not all […]

Oil prices have dropped but who knows where they’ll be in four months and aviation representatives will have a meeting of the minds in London in February to compare notes on squeezing the most from each drop of kerosene. The Efficiency In Aviation conference (PDF brochure) will be held Feb. 3-4 and proposes to bring […]

Last week’s controversy about the convoy of business jets that carried the CEOs of the Big Three automakers to Washington to ask for a bailout was bound to get tongues wagging on the nightly news elsewhere. It prompted an “investigation” by “Chief Investigator” Darcy Spears at KTNV in Las Vegas. Spears combed public records and […]

With a new administration preparing to take over in Washington next January, AOPA’s incoming president, Craig Fuller, met with members of the Department of Transportation transition team on Monday to press the case for GA. Fuller, along with AOPA Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Andy Cebula, met with Mortimer Downey, head of the DOT […]

With no parachute and no safety net, Eric Scott flew under jet-pack power across the 1,053-foot-deep Royal Gorge, in Colorado, on Monday. The 24-second flight carried him safely across the 1,500-foot-wide gorge to a gentle stand-up landing. Scott, 45, had previously flown the JetPack International system but never for more than a few hundred yards. […]

Ballistic Recovery Systems, which supplies the all-aircraft parachutes used by many manufacturers of general aviation and sport aircraft, said late last week that “in light of recent cutbacks from two of its major customers,” about 25 percent of its workforce has been laid off. Most of the staff cuts were made at the BRS headquarters […]

FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell said this week the agency will move forward rapidly to implement nationwide deployment of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system. ADS-B, which will replace radar-based services with data disseminated via satellite, will reduce the risk of midair collisions and weather-related accidents, provide more efficient routes in adverse weather, and improve […]

Eclipse Aviation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today and it appears ETIRC, the company controlled by current CEO Roel Pieper, is moving to consolidate its hold on the troubled planemaker. According to a news release from Eclipse, the company is “seeking court approval for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing and procedures for the sale of substantially […]

Diamond Aircraft is advising its customers to continue fueling their diesel-powered aircraft with jet fuel in spite of a recommendation from ExxonMobil to dealers to stop selling jet fuel to diesel aircraft owners. Diamond CEO Peter Maurer told AVweb he’s unaware of any service issues that might have led the oil giant to issue the […]