News

The last member of the Piper family to head up the legendary planemaker died Aug. 24 in Lock Haven, Pa. Bill Piper Jr. was the son of Piper Aircraft founder William Piper and was president of the company until the late 1970s when the family lost control of the company and management was fired. Pipers […]

A Canadian balloon pilot criticized by a passenger for being among the first out of burning balloon basket says he was blown out by what he suspects was the ignition of a fuel leak. Two people died and 11, including Pennock, were injured in the accident last week near Vancouver, B.C. Pennock was criticized by […]

We all remember our first solo flights but some are more memorable than others. A 69-year-old student on his first solo cross-country flight got lost last Sunday and stumbled into the busy airspace around Indianapolis International Airport. FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro told the Indianapolis Star that controllers tracked the plane flown by Keith Sharpe to […]

Users of the latest version of Google Earth, released last week, now can find videos related to all the world’s airports with a single click. Version 4.2 enables users to embed videos and link them to sites on the world map, so the folks at planeplaces.com have collected all the airport-related videos at YouTube and […]

While many general aviation pilots revel in avoiding the miseries of airline flight, most find themselves occasionally forced to join the milling crowds in the main terminals. But if they are lucky, they may find themselves aboard a United Air Lines flight captained by Denny Flanagan. Flanagan won his 15 minutes of fame this week […]

It’s been a year since a Comair crew tried to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky., and the co-pilot, who was the sole survivor, and the captain’s widow have filed suits against the FAA, the airport, and Jeppesen. Also, the NTSB, which in its final report on the crash last month faulted […]

A NASA safety review has found no evidence to support claims that astronauts were impaired by alcohol when they flew in space, the agency said on Wednesday. Bryan O’Connor, NASA chief of safety and mission assurance, conducted the monthlong review to evaluate allegations in an Astronaut Health Care System Review Committee report that was released […]

It’s fine for air traffic controllers to get conflict alerts when airplanes converge on the airport surface, but wouldn’t it be better if that information was directly available to pilots? The cockpit technology to make that work is now available, Honeywell International and Sensis Corporation said this week. The two companies have created a cockpit […]

Both Sporty’s Pilot Shops and Thielert Aircraft Engines have announced sizeable contributions to scholarships. Sporty’s is supporting an educational effort near and dear to our hearts with a $5,000 contribution to the Ewald Scholarship Fund for budding aviation journalists. “Dave Ewald was admired by all who knew him, and it’s fitting that his legacy lives […]

Honeywell and Sensis Corp. say they’ve demonstrated a runway-incursion system that sounds an audible alert in the cockpit. Until now, anti-incursion systems have set off alarms for ground controllers, who then had to relay the alarm to the affected aircraft. The cockpit advisory will ensure that pilots are aware of possible conflicts with the safe […]