News

Pilots Addison Pemberton, Jeff Hamilton, and Ben Scott are marking the centennial anniversary of the U.S. airmail service by flying three vintage Stearman Speedmail biplanes along Contract Air Mail Route 8 from San Diego to Seattle. The airplanes, all of which were built in the early 1930s, are three of only seven Speedmails still flying. […]

The FAA is once again allowing doors-off operations on commercial flights carrying passengers as long as passenger restraint systems comply with its newly published rules. The administration issued an order prohibiting doors-off flights last March after a helicopter conducting a sightseeing flight crashed into New York City’s East River, killing all five passengers onboard. First […]

A new exhibit about the air war in Southeast Asia, “Vietnam Divided,” will open at Seattle’s Museum of Flight on Memorial Day weekend. The exhibit will be a permanent addition to the main gallery, with displays that focus on the years 1955 to 1975. “The exhibit is not meant to be a comprehensive history of […]

A new study from Helicopter Association International (HAI) and the University of North Dakota (UND) is projecting a significant shortage of rotorcraft pilots and mechanics between now and 2036. According to the UND-HAI Rotorcraft Pilot and Mechanic Supply Forecast, “more helicopter pilots are projected to retire or leave than are incoming over the next 12 […]

SpaceX successfully completed the first flight of its upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, carrying the Bangladesh telecommunications satellite Bangabandhu-1 into orbit last Friday. According to SpaceX, the Block 5 is “the final substantial upgrade” to the Falcon 9 rocket, which the company hopes to use to transport people into space in the not-too-distant future. […]

Flight schools are finding it hard to retain their instructor ranks because airlines are hiring away their staff, a government study reported this week. At the same time, flight schools find it challenging to recruit new students, due to the high cost of training, which can often exceed $50,000, on top of tuition. The U.S. […]

The FAA’s rules currently prohibit civil aircraft from exceeding speeds in excess of Mach 1 over U.S. land areas, and the FAA says that’s not going to change. However, the agency said this week it wants to support the development of civil supersonic aircraft, and will propose two new rules that suggest a move in […]

NTSB investigators working to determine the cause of the recent in-flight breakup of a Piper trainer have discovered a wing crack in another Piper PA-28R-201 aircraft, the agency said on Tuesday. The crack measured about 0.040 inches long and deep. “The plane inspected had a similar number of total airframe hours and cycles [to the […]

A Chinese crew landed an Airbus A319 safely on Monday morning after the cockpit windscreen shattered at 30,000 feet, and the first officer was “partially blown out of the aircraft,” according to Captain Liu Chuanjian. “The situation was very critical,” said Jiang Wenxue, an official with China’s Civil Aviation Administration. “The windshield was blown off […]

Authorities in Turkey are investigating why an Asiana Airlines Airbus 330-300 sheared off the vertical stabilizer of a parked Turkish A321 in Istanbul over the weekend. Video taken of the incident reveals that the Asiana flight was taxiing for a flight to Seoul when it struck the other airplane parked in an alleyway. No one […]