News

Textron announced this week it has agreed to buy United Industrial Corp. for $1.1 billion, giving Textron responsibility for the Shadow tactical unmanned aerial system currently working in Iraq and Afghanistan, and providing the company a fresh card to play in the UAV market. “This industry is still in the very early stages, but at […]

The FAA last week, citing operational control violations, declared an “emergency order” suspending AMI Jet Charter Inc.’s Part 135 air carrier certificate. The action came after a seven-month review of AMIJC’s operation and apparently centered on operational control specifications — details that allow passengers a clear understanding of who is providing service and, for pilots […]

Gulfstream, Supersonic Aerospace International and Aerion Corp. are all whittling away at their supersonic bizjet models as the market for such designs leaps closer to credibility. The Teal Group, through Vice President of Analysis Richard Aboulafia, believes that demand for supersonic travel is significant — over 20 years of production, the Teal Group sees a […]

Wall Street reacted Monday to rumors that Garmin Ltd. may be targeted by Microsoft Corp. as an acquisition — Garmin shares jumped 5 percent as a result. Head equity traders told Bloomberg News that the speculation may be riding a wave borne of news that Nokia Oyj had agreed to buy Navteq Corp., which happens […]

The Seattle Times has identified Philip Kibler, of Troy, N.Y., as the pilot of a Cessna Grand Caravan that went down in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State Sunday, killing him and nine skydivers. Searchers have recovered all ten bodies after initially locating seven. The Times also identifies seven of nine members of the Snohomish […]

Forget security and safety-of-flight concerns — airline passengers in the U.K. are worried about their sanity if cellphones are allowed in the cabin in flight. “It would drive me absolutely mad if the person next to me was using his phone,” Gwyneth Dunwoody told the London Telegraph. The newspaper has been spearheading a campaign to […]

A Cessna 208 Grand Caravan carrying nine skydivers and a pilot who were returning home to Washington from a weekend in Idaho crashed in the Cascade mountain range on Sunday night. Searchers have located the front half of the wreckage and said it’s unlikely that anyone survived. As of Tuesday morning, the tail section had […]

The folks at Ballistic Recovery Systems have been hinting since this summer, when Cessna introduced its Skycatcher Light Sport Aircraft at EAA AirVenture, that the new airplane would be equipped with a BRS parachute. This week, Cessna finally made it official. The BRS system will be offered as a factory-installed option not only for the […]

Last Friday, the left engine on an American Airlines MD-80 caught fire shortly after takeoff from St. Louis’s Lambert Field, on its way to Chicago, with 142 people on board. The crew was able to put the fire mostly out with the onboard fire suppression system but, according to unconfirmed reports, their problems weren’t over. […]

Authorities in Washington State are searching for a Cessna Grand Caravan that went missing late Sunday with nine skydivers and an unknown number of other people on board. The aircraft was bringing members of the Snohomish Skydive Team home to Shelton, Wash., from a skydive meet in Idaho. It disappeared from radar about 8 p.m., […]