News

Avionics sales dipped slightly in the third quarter of 2014 with total sales more than $614 million, according to statistics released by the Aircraft Electronics Association Tuesday. That’s a 5-percent drop compared to the same period of 2013, which saw $646 million in sales. Total sales to date in 2014 topped $1.9 billion, up 2.7 […]

Airbus will build five new Beluga transport aircraft, the company announced this week. Only five of the large-transport airplanes exist, all of them operated by Airbus to transport large aircraft components between production sites in Europe. The original fleet was based on the A300, but the new airplane will be based on the A330 widebody, […]

An Aero Commander 500 crashed into a house about a quarter-mile from Midway International Airport in Chicago at 2:42 this morning, coming within eight inches of an elderly couple asleep in bed, who were unhurt, according to local news media reports. The pilot did not survive. The airplane was carrying cargo and had departed from […]

The FAA does have the authority to apply its rule prohibiting careless and reckless flight to the operators of unmanned aircraft, the NTSB said on Tuesday. The safety board offered the opinion (PDF) in its review of the case of Raphael Pirker, who was fined $10,000 by the FAA for allegedly operating an unmanned aircraft […]

The first Zulu Flight Training office in Europe is now up and running in Geneva, Switzerland, Continental Motors Group announced this week. Like the original site for the project, in Spanish Fort, Alabama, the new office offers a simulator-based curriculum based in a convenient, urban location. The goal is to retain students who might otherwise […]

Canadian GA groups are hoping to head off changes to federal law they say would give the minister of transport unprecedented powers to dictate the operation and development at all the country’s aviation facilities, even the smallest privately owned airstrips. The groups say they were surprised when two short paragraphs showed up in a sweeping […]

Amateur video of the immediate aftermath of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 surfaced over the weekend as Dutch authorities were finally able to start removing the thoroughly disturbed wreckage. Meanwhile, as the trucks and cranes were getting ready to move in, Russia’s state-run television showed an image purported to show a Ukrainian fighter […]

Australia’s aviation regulator is proposing significant operating limitations on all aircraft powered by Jabiru engines because of a “high and increasing rate of engine failures.” If adopted, the consultation draft issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority on Thursday would restrict Jabiru-powered aircraft to day VFR flights over unpopulated areas. No passengers will be allowed […]

Giant e-tailer Amazon seems to be getting more serious about delivering packages with unmanned aerial systems. This week, the company posted a detailed help-wanted notice seeking an engineer and/or pilot with experience in UAS development and a background in FAA certification projects. Recall that late last year, Amazon unveiled a test project in which small […]

China’s aerospace concern showed off its newest military fighter at Zhuhai’s Airshow, Bloomberg News reported this week. The J-31 fighter, which flew a demonstration at the show, has been compared to the Lockheed Martin F-35 military jet. “It appears to be a fifth-generation fighter and so far of course only the United States has been […]