News

“Poor decision-making by the crew” was the probable cause of a fatal Learjet accident last November at Grand Bahama International Airport, according to the Bahamas’ aircraft accident investigation unit. Both crew members and seven passengers died after the jet struck a crane at about 220 feet ASL, about 3.2 nm from the runway threshold. The […]

The FAA last month proposed a revision to its Airworthiness Directive regarding ECi cylinders, but the NTSB and AOPA have objected to several of the proposal’s key components. In comments posted to the docket (PDF), the safety board says the proposal affects “many more cylinder assemblies” than it should, and also removes repetitive inspection requirements […]

Much of the U.S. is locked into a winter-weather regime this month, but spring is coming soon, and the aviation calendar is filling up. AOPA has announced their second year of regional fly-ins, starting with Salinas, California, on May 16. Each of the free events features a social gathering on Friday night followed by a […]

An Oklahoma Air National Guard student pilot managed to bring an F-16 safely back to his base missing half of the right wing after a midair collision with his instructor over Kansas last October. The Air Force released photos of the aftermath of the encounter in which the unnamed student’s outboard missile severed his instructor’s […]

The FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) is now on the Federal Register, which means comments are now open. Comments on the long and complex rule are being accepted until April 24. The rule was posted to the Federal Register late Friday and is officially published as […]

Aviation authorities in New Zealand and Australia have grounded a significant number of Robinson R-44 helicopters in response to a fatal crash in New Zealand last week. The affected aircraft have main rotor blades with the part number CO16-7. The groundings affect 80 aircraft (of 184) in New Zealand and an unknown number of the […]

The Air Force on Friday released its investigation (PDF) of a midair collision of two F-16s in Kansas last fall, citing a student pilot’s loss of visual contact and an instructor’s misperception of a turning maneuver. The two F-16Cs, from the Tulsa Air National Guard Base, were flying a training exercise with a third fighter […]

The oldest airport in Lithuania celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. To mark the milestone, S. Darius and S. Girenas Airfield produced a video sharing what pilots around the world have in common — from watching airplanes fly overhead as a child to that first solo. The 17-minute video, “Stories of Aviation,” was produced with […]

A Canadian pilot begged an Ohio court to give him more jail time rather than take away his beloved Cessna 172 but the presiding judge turned the aircraft over to the federal government and set 26-year-old Ryan Brandt, of North Bay, Ontario, free. Brandt had earlier pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle a Canadian woman […]

Sonex Aircraft has shipped its first SubSonex JSX-2 personal jet kit, launching the initial set of deliveries from the microjet’s first production run as a quick-build kit. The SubSonex’s arrival to Redge Greenberg of Durango, Colorado, “marks the conclusion of an intense six-month effortto bring JSX-2 from prototype aircraft to a fully-developed quick-build kit product,” […]