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Certified drone operators may now fly small UAS, weighing less than 55 pounds, up to 400 feet AGL, the FAA said today, expanding the flight zone from the previous limit of 200 feet. The policy change follows a “comprehensive risk analysis,” the FAA said. Operators still are restricted to daytime VFR. They also must still […]

Unleaded aviation fuels developed by Shell and Swift Fuels will move on to Phase 2 testing in the FAA’s Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative, the FAA announced today. The tests are part of the FAA’s ongoing efforts to develop an acceptable unleaded fuel for small airplanes. “Small aircraft are the only mode of transportation that still […]

Authorities in Cyprus have arrested a man who threatened an EgyptAir flight on Tuesday, and nobody was hurt. The passenger, Seif El Din Mustafa, who boarded in Alexandria, Egypt, told crew members he was wearing an explosive belt and demanded that the crew divert the Cairo-bound A320 to land in Cyprus. Mustafa was “unstable,” Cyprus […]

Airbus’ new Mobile, Alabama, plant completed its first jet last week, commemorating the milestone with a maiden flight of the A321 that will go to JetBlue. The $600 million plant, which Mobile announced in 2012, began operations last fall as Airbus’ first U.S. manufacturing site. The site, which Airbus expects to help fill demand for […]

The military will put F-35 Lightning II fighters on a series of summer airshow tours this year in an effort to gain some good publicity for the jet program, which has been saddled with budget and technical problems. The Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation will display the fighter during its show season, starting with Luke […]

The first FAA-sanctioned drone delivery in a built-up area occurred in Hawthorne, Nevada, two weeks ago and Flirtey, the company behind the milestone, says it plans more approved tests in more complicated environments in the near future. The test happened March 10 but was announced Friday. The eight-rotor drone autonomously flew a preprogrammed half-mile route […]

An American Airlines first officer was arrested for suspected alcohol impairment and handcuffed in front of the passengers he was supposed to help fly from Detroit to Philadelphia early Saturday. Police say the unidentified 50-year-old man from Philadelphia failed a field breath test and then a second one after a security agent noticed he was […]

A 45-year-old man has been charged with two counts of felony vandalism and one of trespassing on an airfield after a pickup truck drove through a locked gate at Van Nuys Airport and rammed a Mooney parked on the ramp. In a statement, Van Nuys Airport spokesman Diana Sanchez said the incident occurred about 10:30 […]

The FAA is proposing that Cirrus’ new SF50 Vision be able to skip airborne testing of the whole-plane parachute as part of its certification. In a Notice of Proposed Special Conditions issued March 18, the agency says that since the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) is a “supplemental” safety system on the SF50 and not […]

A supersonic passenger jet inspired by the Concorde is under development in Colorado as a partnership between startup firm Boom and Virgin Galactic’s manufacturing arm, The Spaceship Company. Boom, founded by former Amazon executive and pilot Blake Scholl, wants to build a jet that can make a 3.4-hour round-trip flight from New York to London […]