News

The House Appropriations Committee has added its opposition to the nascent debate over privatizing the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO). Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and other senior members of the committee wrote a letter (PDF) to the House leadership Monday saying air traffic management should remain a government function. “The annual oversight and funding role […]

GA pilots will have affordable Wi-Fi in their airplanes within about three years and much greater access to space-based services thanks to a $3 billion investment by a Virginia company. Starting in April, Iridium will launch the first of 72 new communications satellites that will, among other things, increase the speed of its Internet signals […]

A gaping hole opened in the side of an Airbus A321 jet operated by Daallo Airlines, shortly after it departed from the Mogadishu airport in Somalia this morning, headed for Djibouti. Early reports said there was a loud noise, just minutes after takeoff, and at least two passengers were injured. A third passenger appears to […]

The U.S. Sport Aviation Expo, held in Sebring, Florida, every January since 2004, may be changing to a new date next year, organizers said on Monday. “Weather challenges in recent years have given us the opportunity to review and assess the best possible time to produce a successful 2017 event,” airport director Mike Willingham said […]

EasyJet is developing a hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell system that could power taxi operations with zero emissions, the company said in a news release today. “Each aircraft would have motors in their main wheels, and electronics and system controllers would give pilots total control of the aircraft’s speed, direction, and braking during taxi operations,” the company […]

A Cessna Citation 525 twin-engine jet broke up in flight while maneuvering near Cedar Fork, Utah, the NTSB says in a preliminary report now posted online. The pilot and passenger both were killed. The CJ3 took off from Salt Lake City International Airport about 9:50 in the morning on Jan. 18, headed for Tucson International […]

A World War II-era Zero fighter plane flew above Japan last week, offering a sight seldom seen since the end of World War II. Flown by retired U.S. Air Force pilot Skip Holm, the restored airplane took off from a naval base in Kanoya, near the southernmost tip of the country. “I wanted for the […]

A Delta Air Lines flight from LAX to MSP last week diverted to Salt Lake City after what is reported to have been a fistfight — involving at least two flight attendants. The Aviation Herald is reporting the captain of Flight 2598 headed the Boeing 757 for Salt Lake Jan. 22 after two flight attendants […]

Dornier is going ahead with production of the latest in its long line of flying boats and Diamond Aircraft’s London, Ontario, plant is building the composite airframe. The Seastar, which is powered by push/pull twin PT6 turboprops, first flew in the 1980s but it wasn’t until 2009 that Dornier Seawings, a third-generation offshoot of one […]

The Senate Appropriations Committee is strongly opposing a proposal to split the FAA’s air traffic organization (ATO) from the agency. In a pointed letter (PDF) to the leaders of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the appropriations arm says it’s fundamentally opposed to the plan on a number of fronts. “We are writing to express […]