News

In the firstand largest demonstration of its kind, staffers from NASA and the FAA last week flew 22 drones simultaneously from six test sites across the country to assess NASA’s drone traffic management system. Operators outside NASA entered flight plans and planned operations from several locations, using various kinds of aircraft and software. The traffic-management […]

NTSB investigators have completed their fact-finding into the October 2014 midair crash at the Frederick, Maryland, airport, in which three people in a Robinson R44 helicopter died after a Cirrus SR22 “flew through [its] rotor system” in the traffic pattern. The safety board has not yet determined the accident’s probable cause. The factual report states […]

A stealth fighter jet called the X-2, which has been in development in Japan since 2009, flew for the first time on Friday, CNN has reported. The jet, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is not a production design or prototype, but a technology demonstrator, which is meant as a test bed for future designs. The […]

The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team, an industry-government partnership, has set a goal to reduce fatal civil helicopter accidents by 20 percent by 2019. The team said recently its efforts will focus on improving personal protection, aircraft equipage, pilot judgment and pilot decision-making. The team said total helicopter accidents have decreased by 52 percent compared to […]

Solar Impulse II completed a 56-hour leg from Hawaii to Mountain View, California just before midnight local time on Saturday. The aircraft, which had to undergo a refit in Hawaii after the epic leg from Japan wrecked its batteries, reportedly performed flawlessly on the trip, which ended with a dramatic entrance over the Golden Gate […]

Some Boeing 787 Dreamliners must undergo immediate repair or replacement of at least one engine, under an airworthiness directive issued this week by the FAA. The AD, issued without a comment period to speed up compliance, affects 43 U.S. 787-8s and 787-9sflying with General Electric GEnx-1B engines, according to the AD. The directive stems from […]

Airline crews should have more training on go-arounds, under recommendations issued this week by Russian investigators probing the March 19 crash of a Boeing 737 that killed all 62 people on board. The Interstate Aviation Committee’s interim report (PDF) on the crash at Rostov-on-Don airport details the FlyDubai jet’s flight path during the crew’s attempts […]

Engine manufacturers and airframers have long worried that the FAA would like the authority to declare the replacement fuel for 100LL as applicable for fleetwide use. But at Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany, this week, Lycoming’s Michael Kraft told AVweb that the FAA reauthorization bill currently snaking through Congress has specific language giving the FAA administrator […]

Even at a price north of a million dollars, Diamond’s new DA62 twin is finding strong demand in a new aircraft market most describe as tepid. Diamond CEO Christian Dries told AVweb this week at Aero that production will rise to more than one airplane per week and that he believes a volume of 60 […]

The former postal carrier who landed his gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol a year ago was sentenced to 120 days in prison on Thursday. Doug Hughes, 62, walked out of federal court after a lengthy hearing and told reporters he still doesn’t regret his flight, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times. Hughes, a Florida […]