News

Lockheed Martin has moved a step closer to FAA certification for its hybrid airship design, the company said last week. Lockheed worked with the FAA’s certification office in Seattle for more than a decade to develop a plan to allow a nonrigid hybrid airship to operate as a commercial aircraft, since the FAA had no […]

A Russian Sukhoi Su-24 was shot down Tuesday near the Syrian-Turkish border by air-to-air missiles fired by Turkish F-16 fighter jets, officials said. Various accounts have disputed whether the aircraft was above Syrian or Turkish territory at the time, and a U.S. official, speaking off the record to the Los Angeles Times, said if the […]

Blue Origin, the space company headed by Jeff Bezos, has succeeded where every other effort has failed — on Monday, the company launched its unmanned New Shepard suborbital space vehicle from Texas to 329,839 feet, then the crew capsule separated and landed under a parachute, and the rocket module also made a safe, powered, vertical […]

Ascension Air, which operates a fleet of Cirrus SR22 aircraft from its bases in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale, now is offering jet cards and time shares for the Eclipse 550 jet. “Our new Eclipse 550 Contrails program will bring personal jet transportation to a growing segment of aviators who want the flexibility and benefits of […]

All drones weighing more than 250 grams — about a half pound — should be registered, according to the recommendations from an FAA task force, released today (PDF). The task force, comprising 25 industry representatives from ALPA and AOPA to Google and Wal-Mart, reached “unanimous consensus,” said Earl Lawrence, director of the FAA’s UAS integration […]

Just in time for the busy holiday travel season, Transportation Security Administration agents say they’re having a hard time getting into the spirit thanks to their contract negotiations with the agency. The front line workers are members of the American Federation of Government Employees and their contract with the TSA is up on Dec. 9. […]

Drones weighing as little as 8 ounces will have to be registered with the FAA if the agency accepts recommendations of a 26-member panel struck last month to design a registration scheme. The panel, which included representatives from Amazon, Google, drone manufacturers and aviation groups, delivered their recommendations to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on Saturday. […]

Four British tourists and two from Australia were killed when the sightseeing helicopter they were on crashed in a crevasse on Fox Glacier on New Zealand’s south island on Saturday. The pilot of the helicopter, a New Zealander, was also killed. Authorities still aren’t sure why the Airbus Helicopters AS350, operated by Fox Glacier Heliservices, […]

The former postal carrier who landed his gyrocopter at the U.S. Capitol in April struck a bargain with federal prosecutors, pleading guilty on Friday to flying without a pilot’s certificate. Doug Hughes, 62, will be sentenced in April next year. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prisonand a $250,000 fine, although prosecutors […]

Quebec’s pension plan has paid $1.5 billion for a 30 percent stake in Bombardier’s train manufacturing business but the company will use some of the money to fund full certification of its CSeries airliner. The purchase follows a $1 billion bailout by the Quebec government that targets the CSeries program. The company has also asked […]