News

The FAA issued a statement Wednesday regarding the status of operations in the Chicago area-and noted that O’Hare operations were the most numerous in the country Tuesday, even as it is working to get Chicago Center fully operational. The full text of the statement follows: “FAA air traffic controllers managed more operations at Chicago O’Hare […]

The FAA issued an airworthiness directive on Wednesday that requires the operators of 1,300 Boeing 737 and 777 jets to replace certain Honeywell avionics display units at a total cost of about $14 million. The units are susceptible to interference from some WiFi devices, the FAA said. “We are issuing this AD to prevent loss […]

Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock, the Ohio aeronautical engineer, adventurer, pilot and media-described housewife who became the first female pilot to fly solo around the world, died Tuesday. Mock was at her home in Quincy, Florida, and died in her sleep. An experienced pilot, she completed the record-setting solo flight on April 17, 1964, in her single-engine […]

Sierra Nevada Corporation has unveiled a smaller version of its Dream Chaser space plane designed to be launched to low earth airport by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan’s Stratolaunch system. The scaled version of Dream Chaser will carry three astronauts or it can be flown as a space UAS carrying cargo only. The Stratolaunch vehicle […]

The standards organization ASTM says both the European Commission and European Aviation Safety Agency have endorsed a “global initiative to modernize the way smaller airplanes are certified.” ASTM says the CS23/Part 23 Reorganization is a blueprint for the world’s aviation authorities to bring their certification standards up to date and it was unveiled at meeting […]

The FAA has updated its policy on experimental-amateur built (E-AB) aircraft to allow pilots who build their own airplanes to bring along a qualified additional pilot on their initial test flights, EAA said on Monday. “This policy change comes after years of data suggesting that the most accidents in the E-AB fleet occur in aircraft […]

The Airbus A350-900 XWB, which has been in the works for about eight years, was certified by EASA on Tuesday. FAA certification will follow soon, Airbus said. The “extra-wide-body” model can carry up to 440 passengers and eight cabin crew. “The A350 XWB embodies many extra innovative technologies which make all the difference in passenger […]

The global parcel-delivery company DHL has received authorization to start regular drone delivery flights to an island in the North Sea about 7.5 miles off the coast of Germany. “This research project represents the first and only time in Europe that a flight by an unmanned aircraft will be operated outside of the pilot’s field […]

Following a fire that knocked out ATC equipment at a facility in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said on Monday the agency will conduct a 30-day review of its contingency plans and security protocols to be sure they address system efficiency as well as safety. “I do understand the traveling public’s frustrations,” […]

Air France pilots ended a two-week strike Sunday but did so without resolving its fight with the company. The SNPL, Air France’s main pilots union, simply gave up and flights are expected to resume in a couple of days. The pilots walked out to pressure the airline into covering pilots of its new budget carrier […]