News

photo by Ricky Hilton Imagine flying an airplane when both wings suddenly depart the fuselage — that is about the kind of emergency that was faced by balloon pilot Chuck Walz last Sunday morning, when the fabric of his balloon envelope collapsed, and the aircraft plummeted toward the ground. But just before impact, the fabric […]

A fleet of scale-model autonomous helicopters operated by Stanford computer scientists can learn to fly complex stunts by “watching” other helicopters perform the same maneuvers, the research team said this week. The project illustrates the capability of “apprenticeship learning,” in which robots learn by observing an expert, rather than by following pre-programmed software instructions. Using […]

A year after adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared while flying near a friend’s ranch in Nevada, a group of 28 searchers are back in the field hoping to find evidence of his fate. The team began its search on Aug. 23 and plans to continue through next Wednesday, The Associated Press reported this week. They are […]

The idyllic resort area of Phuket, Thailand is hoping to attract even more upscale business through the construction of a private jet terminal at Don Muang Airport. Property Report Asia says the country’s tourism ministry believes the area is losing rich travelers because there are no facilities dedicated to private jets at Don Muang Airport […]

The Australian investment company Macquarie Opportunities Partners has finished the acquisition of the jet membership, retail charter and fuel management arms of Sentient Jet Holdings LLC, completing a split of Sentient that was announced two weeks ago. The new company will retain the Sentient brand and will be headed up by Steve Hankin, the former […]

After shelving its own Subaru light jet program, Fuji Heavy Industries has decided to take part in the development of Mitsubishi’s regional jet, according to the Nikkei business news service in Japan. According to a story on the Thomson Financial wire, Fuji will work on wings and other “major components” of the new jet. According […]

The lawyer for a Navasota, Texas-based foundry says the Supreme Court of Texas has upheld a lower court ruling absolving his client of wrongdoing in the manufacture of faulty crankshafts that were installed in Lycoming engines. In 2005, Interstate Southwest won a jury decision that not only found it blameless, but also found Lycoming liable […]

One of the biggest newsmakers at EAA AirVenture this summer was the Martin Jetpack — a spiffy-looking unit that promised great mobility and potential, though its live demo at Oshkosh was inconclusive as to its true capabilities. But this week, the product took another step forward in mass-market appeal when Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) announced […]

Hurricane Gustav was no Katrina, but it still caused plenty of headaches for aviators in the Gulf Coast region. As of Tuesday, Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans remained closed to passenger traffic and was operating on generator power, but VFR daytime operations were allowed. The airport was expected to be back to normal […]

Click to watch video When deHavilland built the Tiger Moth, it was designed to have the gentle flight characteristics that would launch a legion of crack pilots against the Third Reich. It did that job with minimal damage to airframes and teenaged pilots and it helped Augie Gorreck and his passenger Susie Williams walk (make […]