News

When Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites unveiled the final version of their spacecraft last week, the impressive double-hulled design of the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft stirred up memories of catamaran aircraft of the past. LiveScience turned up a photo of a Russian airplane model, apparently built in the late 1970s, that is eerily similar to the […]

The lawyer for the first officer and only survivor of Comair Flight 5191 says he has withdrawn a controversial defense strategy in which the passengers who died on the flight were held partly responsible for their deaths. They along with the pilot and a flight attendant died after the aircraft took off from the wrong […]

Two former Pan Am International Flight Academy instructors who say they alerted the FBI to the strange demeanor of convicted 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui when he was a student at the school are upset that one of their colleagues was paid $5 million under the “Rewards for Justice” program and they received nothing. According to […]

Low-interest loans would be offered to Alaskan pilots if a new comprehensive aviation safety initiative by that state’s governor, Sarah Palin, is put in place. The loan program would act as part of a bill aiming to facilitate the purchase and cockpit installation of Capstone-compliant avionics aimed in part at improving safety by providing highly […]

Despite earlier reports that suggested both engines had quit on the Boeing 777 that crashed on final approach to Heathrow last week, the engines were still developing power at impact, the United Kingdom’s Air Accident Investigation Board said on Thursday. The AAIB also said there was adequate fuel on board. The aircraft was on autopilot […]

When he’s not busy selling the world on the new 787 Dreamliner, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Scott Carson will be flying his new Sport Cub S2. Carson took delivery of the light sport aircraft last week at CubCrafter’s manufacturing facility in Yakima, Wash. N846SC is painted red and white in honor of Carson’s alma mater, […]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will open a new College of Business building this week at its Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. The $13 million, 54,000-square-foot facility will house ERAU’s aviation operations simulations lab, formerly located in the flight simulator building. Researchers use the lab to test various operational scenarios, such as what it takes to unload and […]

Cessna Aircraft Co. said on Thursday it will move ahead with its Large Cabin Concept jet aircraft. The aircraft will have intercontinental range and will be the largest ever in Cessna’s fleet. “I’m ecstatic to announce we are extending the Citation line upward and grateful for the patience of the customers who have urged Cessna […]

The Jan. 23 crash of a Polish air force air transport aircraft that killed all 20 aboard (including high-ranking officials) has led Polish officials to ground its fleet of nine EADS CASA C-295M aircraft pending the results of an investigation. The crash aircraft had fewer than 500 flight hours and its data recorder has been […]

Virgin Galactic unveiled the final designs of SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo at a press conference in New York on Wednesday. The construction of WhiteKnightTwo, the gangly mothership that carries the spaceship aloft before it ignites its rocket engine, is now very close to completion at Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif., the company said, and flight testing […]