News

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines took customer service to a new level in recent weeks with a five-day publicity event assisting thousands of travelers around the world. In a video released this month, the airline described the social media-based “#happytohelp” campaign as its way of reaching out to non-KLM customers. “We decided to help out everyone, […]

Pilot Jonathan Trappe, who has flown his unique cluster-balloon systems across the English Channel, Lake Michigan, and the Alps, last week completed his first flight in more than a year, launching from Decatur, Alabama, and landing about nine hours later, 160 miles away, in Ellijay, Georgia. “We flew on November 21, which is Montgolfier Day, […]

Isaac Wilson made history in his home state of New Mexico on Tuesday when he flew his first solo in a helicopter at age 16. The flight over Double Eagle II Airport in Albuquerque was the first of its kind there. It also was a unique milestone for Wilson’s instructor, Douglas Christian of Vertical Limit […]

Tyler Francis, owner of an FBO business in New Mexico, died Monday when the experimental airplanehe was flying crashed at Las Cruces International Airport, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported. Francis, 29, owned Francis Aviation, headquartered at the Dona Ana County Airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. He had recently expanded operations to Las Cruces, the […]

ATC audioof a Houston controller talking a VFR pilot through an emergency IFR approach into Houston Executive Airport included instruction on setting up a GPS, vectors, and managing the Cessna 172’s engine as it descended from 8500 feet. Pilot Mark Nelson had called ATC for help when he was trapped above clouds flying his Cessna […]

A corporate jet skidded off a wet runway and into a creek at Sugar Land Regional Airport in Texas Friday,Houston-area mediareported. Two pilots on board were uninjured, and the Embraer Phenom ended up tail-first in Oyster Creek.After touchdown, the pilot tried to make a U-turn to avoid going off the end of the runway, said […]

Continental Motors Group Ltd. has expanded its Alabama-based maintenance and service operations into avionics and aircraft interiors. Continental, a subsidiary of AVIC International Holding Corp. of Beijing, China, announced on Monday it has completed acquisition of Southern Avionics and Communications of Mobile.Southern Avionics is now a division of Continental Motors Services of Fairhope, Alabama, and […]

Audio of firefighter personnel and accompanying photos show a four-minute response time to airshow performer Eddie Andreini’s fatal crash at Travis Air Force Base in May, according to avideo (below)released by a lawyer for the pilot’s family. Mike Danko also alleged in an online statement Monday that Air Force officials were “confused” over where fire […]

A story in Monday’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required)says the FAA’s proposed rulemaking on commercial use of unmanned aerial systems will face so much backlash that it could take years to enact. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal says the big sticking point will be the requirement for a private pilot certificate for commercial UAS pilots. […]

A northern Canadian airline has temporarily grounded its fleet of four Cessna Caravans after one made an emergency landing on a frozen lake early Thursday. The flight from Yellowknife to Fort Simpson was about 15 miles into the flight when it apparently encountered severe icing. The pilot headed for the broad expanse of ice on […]