News

The FAA is reminding helicopter operators that they must use certified gear when conducting “human external cargo operations” — that is, transporting humans via a harness slung beneath the aircraft. This form of travel is fairly common for workers who inspect power transmission lines and towers that otherwise would be hard to reach. “Operators are […]

Lockheed Martin has started construction of a new 255,000-square foot-office facility in Orlando, Florida, and plans to hire about 1,800 people over the next two years, the company has announced. About 500 of those new hires will be based in Orlando. Lockheed workers in the new building will support engineering, management, and research and development […]

Boeing’s latest version of the 737, the Max 9, is now FAA certified and will soon start deliveries, the company announced last week. The airplane adds three additional seat rows compared to the Max 8, for a total capacity of 220 passengers. CFM International LEAP-1B engines and Advanced Technology winglets enhance efficiency and reduce noise. […]

A Wall Street Journal editorial last week said it would be a good idea to privatize the air traffic control system, and singled out the opposition by NBAA and AOPA for critique. “What’s really going on,” the WSJ editorial board says, is that the business jet industry pays just 0.6 percent of aviation user taxes, […]

Canada is looking at banning some types of laser pointers after its Transport Minister ordered his staff to look at “all possible options” to halt laser attacks on aircraft. Marc Garneau called a news conference last week after there were six reported incidents at Trudeau International Airport in Montreal over two days earlier this month. […]

The only fatalities resulting from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Mexico on Friday were 13 people on the ground hit by a crashing military Blackhawk helicopter on Saturday. The helicopter was carrying government officials surveying the damage in Santiago Jamiltepec in Oaxaca state in southern Mexico when it crashed while attempting to land in a […]

All 65 people aboard an Aseman Airlines ATR-72 turboprop were killed when the aircraft crashed in bad weather in the mountains of southern Iran Sunday. The aircraft hit Mt. Dena, which is almost 14,000 feet tall, while on approach to Yasuj on a flight from Tehran just after midnight. Wind, snow and dense fog prevented […]

Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) has certified the Pipistrel Alpha Electro in its advanced ultralight category, the first certification of an electric aircraft in North America. The certification means the aircraft can be used commercially in its intended role as an economical trainer. Electricairplanes can’t qualify for the factory-built light sport category (S-LSA) because FAA […]

The FAA and NTSB are now mulling the circumstances of a relatively minor helicopter crash in South Carolina that may go down in history as the first U.S. aircraft crash caused by a drone. According to the narrative available so far, the drone didn’t directly cause the crash but the pilot’s evasive maneuvers to avoid […]

FBOs and local airports across Canada have been affected by a quarantine of avgas following a quality control problem at the only refinery that makes 100LL in Canada. Imperial Oil’s Strathcona refinery in Edmonton issued a directive Wednesday to its wholesale customers saying any avgas they obtained from the refinery from Dec. 28, 2017, shouldn’t […]