News

A camera drone crashed a few feet behind a downhill skier competing in a World Cup slalom event in Italy on Tuesday. The hefty-looking aircraft dropped vertically and smashed to pieces as Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher negotiated a steep section of the course. He did not appear to notice the maelstrom of plastic behind him. […]

The FAA said today it has reached a settlement with Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) regarding 13 complaints that the company had failed to meet various compliance standards. Under the agreement, BCA must pay the government $12 million and also must implement changes to several certification processes, “to further enhance the airworthiness and continued compliance of […]

Monday was the first day of the FAA’s drone registry, and it was not without glitches, with users reporting that it went down for a while shortly after it opened, and others complaining that the FAA posted incorrect information for law enforcement about deadlines. The site is back up and running, and that law-enforcement information […]

The FAA is working on ways for private aviators to protect their flight data from being made public, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. NBAA and GAMA have been pressing the FAA, the Journal reported, to ensure that as new air traffic control systems such as ADS-B are developed, they will […]

Transport Canada has issued type certification for Bombardier’s CSeries airliner. Transport Minister Marc Garneau made the announcement last week at Bombardier’s Montreal-area facility. The CSeries is the first clean-sheet single-aisle airliner to be certified in at least 20 years and Bombardier is pinning its future on the fuel-efficient, fly-by-wire jet. The aircraft certified last week […]

SpaceX successfully landed its reusable booster rocket after launching a payload of 11 small satellites into orbit Monday evening.It was SpaceX’s first launch since a rocket boosting a re-supply capsule to the International Space Station was destroyed shortly after launch in late June. Monday’s launch was the fourth attempt at reusing the 15-story booster after […]

NASA has launched a prize challenge in search of ideas for how to create a new airspace system by 2035 that could accommodate up to 10 million piloted and autonomous aircraft operations per day. “Our current system is not equipped to handle this volume or variety of aircraft,” says NASA. The agency is asking innovators […]

The FAA has issued a statement (PDF) asserting its authority over airspace matters and warning municipal and state governments to butt out when it comes to regulating drones. On Dec. 21, new registration requirements come into effect for drones weighing more than 250 grams. In its statement the FAA is reminding junior levels of government […]

Amazon is said to be in talks to move into the air freight business after a trial involving five leased Boeing 767s flying out of a former air cargo terminal in Wilmington, Ohio. The Seattle Times, quoting mostly unnamed sources, said the company is in the market for 20 more 767s and will likely base […]

A newly restored Windecker Eagle, assembled by a team in Mooresville, North Carolina, is back in the air as the only flying model of its kind after sitting in storage for more than 30 years. The composite-built airplane’s first flight took place earlier this month, with the goal of logging 25 hours by the end […]