News

The Air Force has been plagued by high numbers of drone crashes in recent years amid fast-growing demand for the unmanned systems, mostly overseas. Twenty drones were damaged or destroyed last year, the highest number yet, according to a Washington Post report this week. The latest model – the $14 million, 2 1/2-ton Reaper made […]

A former pilot for Alaska Airlines was charged this week with flying on the job under the influence of alcohol in 2014. David Hans Arnston, 60, of Newport Beach, California, was in federal court on Wednesday and charged with one felony count, The Associated Press reported. He was freed on $25,000 bond and will return […]

Every show we cover seems to feature one airplane that’s the crowd magnet and at this week’s Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, it’s the Commuter Craft Innovator. This airplane is a canard design vaguely reminiscent of the Long-EZ but with aspirations to be both an experimental amateur built and, eventually, an LSA. Although mock-ups of […]

The student pilot of an Air Force F-16 fighter that crashed Thursday morning in western Arizona remains missing after a daylong search, according to media reports.The jet, from Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix and assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing, crashed in a hilly area about 8:45 a.m. near the small town of Bagdad. […]

Although builders of amateur-built aircraft often work with limited resources, they can still apply the methodical strategies of data-driven risk mitigation, according to Paul Dye, editor of KITPLANES magazine and a former senior flight director at NASA. In a keynote talk at the opening day of the Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida, Dye said […]

Wanna buy an airplane cheap? A company called Aeromarine LSA may have just what you’re looking for in the form of the Merlin PSA, which debuted Wednesday at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring. The Merlin PSA — for Personal Sport Airplane — is a lightweight, single-seat aircraft powered by a Rotax 582 two-stroke […]

Despite chilly temperatures, the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo opened in Sebring Wednesday morning with a record number of exhibitors. Show organizer Jana Filip said as of late Wednesday, both outdoor and indoor space was still being sold and that outdoor section was the largest in the show’s 12-year history. “Indoor, we’ve got a few more […]

World View, which is developing a high-altitude balloon to carry tourists near the edge of space, will establish its launch site and manufacturing campus at Spaceport Tucson, Arizona. The companyannounced this week it will move in as the anchor tenant ofa new business park after striking a deal with Pima County. World View continues to […]

Excess power generated by turbine engines that now goes to waste could be used to generate electricity, according to researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, in Cleveland. The electricity then could be used to generate additional thrust. “These hybrid systems use electric motors and generators that work together with turbine engines to distribute power throughout […]

Anticipating that Congress will consider changes to how the FAA functions and gets its funding in the upcoming session, 15 general-aviation advocacy groups signed on to a letter today asking the leaders of transportation policy in the U.S. House to hear their “real and long-standing concerns” about the expected proposals. “Some big airlines have pushed […]