News

A remote spit of land on New Zealand’s South Island will soon become a space launch site for Rocket Lab, which plans to offer low-cost launches for satellites using a smaller, specially designed rocket. The site is slated for completion by the end of the year and target markets will include universities and small startup […]

After nearly five days aloft “without a drop of fuel,” Solar Impulse 2 pilot Andre Borschberg touched down in the early-morning light at Kalaleoa Airport in Hawaii. He has just flown over the Pacific from Japan, completing leg 8 of the solar-powered airplane’s global voyage.In the meantime, Borschbergtook the title for the longest nonstop solo […]

LightSquared, the company that three years ago was proposing a nationwide cellphone network whose signals were shown to disrupt GPS signals, is back. In a multibillion-dollar gambit that could reduce the cost of cell service, potentially at the expense of GPS, it’s also asking the FCC to force GPS companies to help solve the technical […]

The captain of the TransAsia Airways turboprop that crashed in Taipei in February had shut down the working engine when the other failed after departure, Reuters reported Thursday. The pilot, Liao Jian-zong, then caught the error, but it was too late, Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council said in Reuters’ report. The cockpit voice recorder indicated Liao […]

An Indonesian air force C-130 transport plane that crashed into a residential neighborhood in Medan, Indonesia, during departure on Tuesday had one failed propeller as the pilot attempted to return to the airport, authorities said in a CNN report Thursday. There were 122 people on board,including military personnel and their families, with no survivors confirmed. […]

The FAA plans to eliminate two of the less frequently used resources provided to pilots in the coming months – Airport Advisories and World Aeronautical Charts. In two separate moves, the agency cited declining usage of both due to the digital information available to pilots. There’s a public comment period on Airport Advisories, but the […]

Aircraft Spruce co-founder Bob Irwin died June 26 at his home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Irwin and his wife Flo started Fullerton Air Parts in 1955, Aircraft Spruce in 1965 and ACS Products Co. in 1983, building the business into the largest supplier of aviation supplies in the U.S. In addition to his business […]

A six-year-old boy climbed into the cockpit of a Eurocopter EC145 on display at an airshow in Mankato, Minnesota, on Saturday, and started up the rotors, “causing a panic and two minor injuries,” according to a local ABC Radio news report. The medevac helicopter, which is owned by the Mayo Clinic, was unattended when the […]

Eclipse has retired its Total Eclipse series of aircraft, and instead will offer a new factory-refurbished twinjet called the Eclipse Special Edition, the company said this week. The SE, based on the original Eclipse 500, will include nearly all the features of the factory-new 550 jet, including a dual Avio integrated flight management system, anti-skid […]

The FAA says the operator of a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft that crashed in Afghanistan in April 2013, killing all seven on board, failed to comply with FARs when loading heavy military vehicles onto the plane. National Air Cargo Group, based in Orlando, Florida, didn’t follow the 747 flight manual, resulting in cargo that was […]