News

If easy is relative and “expedited access” run by the TSA are the guidelines, then the agency’s crewPASS test program, launched Friday and expected to last two months, may ultimately provide easier access to secure areas for properly credentialed commercial flight deck crew members. The system employs a crew member database that provides transportation security […]

Epic Aircraft, maker of turbine-powered kit and to-be-certified aircraft, says that its six-plus-two-seat twin Williams FJ-33-4 powered Elite jet has in test flights consistently logged cruise speeds “in excess of 385 KTAS.” The company says that makes the Elite “the undisputed fastest very light jet in the world.” For those who are interested in both […]

When Diamond Aircraft announced plans to offer a single-engine “personal jet” a few years ago, it’s likely no one could predict the market nerve the Austrian/Canadian company had touched. There are now at least six aircraft in the same general genre under development and a Bend, Ore. company, Stratos Aircraft, entered the running on Wednesday […]

Raytheon is leading a research team of industry experts that will examine the impact of new classes of aircraft on America’s next generation air transport system – NextGen. Four new classes of aircraft, very light jets, super heavy transports, UAVs and supersonic transport will soon enter already overburdened skies. “In ten to 20 years we […]

AOPA says that about three-quarters of its members have scaled back their flight time due to the high cost of fuel. In an effort to take action, AOPA has joined a coalition called Stop Oil Speculation Now (S.O.S. Now). The S.O.S. group sent e-mails to millions of airline customers over the last week, alleging that […]

U.S. airlines are already reeling from high fuel prices and a slack economy, and on Wednesday the FAA dropped a $700 million cost into the mix — that’s the estimate to retrofit about 3,000 airliners with fuel-tank systems intended to prevent explosions like the one that destroyed TWA Flight 800 in 1996. New aircraft will […]

The Icon amphibious light sport aircraft flew for the first time last week, the company announced on Tuesday. It launched from a lake in Southern California. “Everything went as well as an initial test flight possibly could go,” said Jon Karkow, lead engineer and test pilot, who in the past worked on the Virgin Atlantic […]

The homebuilder community has been waiting anxiously for a few months now to see what the FAA would come up with in its promised “guidance” for interpreting the rules that guide the construction of amateur-built aircraft. The policy, released on Tuesday, mandates more stringent oversight of amateur-built certification by the FAA, said EAA’s Earl Lawrence, […]

A system to better predict the future positions of thunderstorms, which has been tested in the Northeast since 2001, will now be deployed nationwide, the FAA said on Monday. The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) was upgraded significantly last month, and will enable air traffic controllers to keep air routes open longer and reopen them […]

General Electric and Snecma have extended their successful 34-year relationship on CFM International until 2040. The two companies unveiled plans to develop an all-new engine, provisionally called the Leap-X. The engine will be 16% more fuel efficiency than the CFM56. It will not be available as a as retrofit option on aircraft already in service.