News

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 […]

Solar Impulse 2 launched from Nagoya, Japan, en route to Hawaii, on Sunday, and early Monday morning the unique solar-powered aircraft passed “the point of no return,” the team announced. The team expects it will take at least five days to make the unprecedented trip. Pilot Andre Borschberg is piloting what will be the longest-ever […]

A Beechcraft A36 Bonanza crashed into a house in Plainville, Massachusetts, about 5:45 p.m. on Sunday, killing two adults and a child on board the airplane. The four residents of the house, a couple and two children, escaped unharmed, but their two-story Colonial home in a suburb about 30 miles from Boston was destroyed by […]

NBAA is urging its members to strongly oppose a proposal to separate air traffic control from the FAA through the establishment of a not-for-profit corporation. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Penn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has said he’ll introduce a bill to create the corporation to free the air traffic control system from […]

AOPA is hoping for some movement on the relaxation of third class aviation medical requirements “in the next few weeks,” according to a report recorded for AOPA Live. Jim Coon, AOPA’s senior vice president of government affairs, told the program that medical reform remains AOPA’s top priority. “This is an issue we are working on […]

A SpaceX rocket failed Sunday as it went through Mach 1 when an oxygen tank in the vehicle’s upper stage overpressurized. The rocket, carrying two tons of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, exploded and shattered into thousands of pieces about two and a half minutes after launch from Cape Canaveral. It was […]

Fire officials in California are imploring amateur UAS operators to steer well clear of wildfire areas after three air tankers had to abort drops on a fire east of Los Angeles. Officials said a fixed-wing UAS with a four-foot wingspan was spotted over the Lake Fire in the San Bernardino mountains and forced a DC-10 […]

An electric airplane produced in South America took its first test flight this week at Itaipu, Brazil. Reuters‘ report on the milestone describes the Sora-E as a two-seat airplane powered by six ion polymer lithium batteries. The airframe was built from carbon fiber and the electric engine, which came from Slovenia, will provide a cruise […]