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New portable runway lights developed for military use can shine in either a standard visible wavelength or quickly switch to a covert infra-red mode that can be detected only with night-vision gear. During recent tests of the system in Wisconsin, pilots of a C-130 were able to detect the infra-red LEDs (light-emitting diodes) from 25 […]

PHOTO: AFP A female helicopter pilot in South Korea’s military who was fired after she had a double mastectomy due to breast cancer has been ordered reinstated by a Seoul Administrative Court, Reuters reported on Saturday. Colonel Pi Woo Jin was told that rules required soldiers who are missing body parts to be discharged. Colonel […]

You may have heard about the Air Tran Boeing 737 that was forced to return to Philadelphia last week after a bird strike. Bird strikes are relatively common so not too much notice was paid, even though the first officer suffered some cuts to his face from broken glass. However, it’s amazing how much damage […]

If you think flying via the commercial airlines is equivalent to descending through the gates of hell, one traveler found that even being on the far side of the afterlife is no protection against airport angst. An urn filled with cremated remains was improperly screened at an Indianapolis airport early Friday morning, the Associated Press […]

Pilot Mark Dusenberry was unhurt but his handbuilt replica of the 1905 Wright Brothers Flyer III aricraft was damaged in a crash landing during a demonstration flight at Huffman Prairie, in Ohio, on Friday. The aircraft was airborne for only about 30 seconds when it started to porpoise, then banked, and a wingtip hit the […]

The sky’s the limit of infinite possibilities when you don’t let terminology and regulations hold you down. Let’s dissect a few loftier ones to answer questions that have teased aeronautical brains since before Pratt met Whitney. Take the quiz. More Brainteasers

Commercial airports should have runway overrun areas 500 feet wide that extend 1,000 feet off the runway end, but in cases where that isn’t practical, the agency is now promoting the use of a new technology called EMAS. An Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) uses materials placed at the end of a runway to stop […]

Why not record the sounds of an early morning landing at Heathrow, or Airbus A380 deep-freeze testing, or aerobatic airplanes spinning and looping, and integrate those sounds into electronic music compositions? That idea inspired Bruno Misonne, of Belgium, who lives close to a major airport, and he ended up with a compilation of “aviation music.” […]

The crew of a Southwest Airlines 737 that overran a runway during a Chicago snowstorm in December 2005 had reverse thrust available, and should have used it, the NTSB said in its final report, released on Tuesday. If they had done so, they could have prevented the accident. The jet ran into a car on […]

The Board of Governors of the Civil Air Patrol has stripped the organization’s suspended commander, Maj. Gen. Tony Pineda, of his rank, position and membership after investigating allegations that a member of CAP’s Florida unit took U.S. Air Force Command and Staff College tests on Pineda’s behalf in 2002 and 2003. Pineda was suspended in […]