News

Barrington Irving, whose nonprofit group Experience Aviation encourages youth to study science, engineering and math, took off on the first leg of an educational flight around the world on Tuesday. Irving departed from Reagan Washington National Airport in a Hawker 400XP on loan from Executive Air Services in Miami. During the flight, Irving and his […]

The oft-maligned but remarkably capable Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor entered combat for the first time this week when an undisclosed number were used in airstrikes against Islamic State strongholds and facilities in Syria. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the aircraft dropped GPS-guided bombs on an array of targets, including a building […]

Forbes blogger Gregory S. McNeal is reporting that the FAA will make a major announcement on the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) Thursday when it gives the movie industry permission to legally use remotely piloted aircraft in production. What Forbes also says is that the deal with Hollywood will set the basic standards, […]

A small humanoid robot about 6 inches tall successfully flew a flight simulator at a conference in Chicago last week. Professor David Hyunchul Shim and his students from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, KAIST, in Korea, presented a research paper entitled “A Robot-machine Interface for Full-functionality Automation Using a Humanoid.” The robot operated a panel […]

Airbus has agreed to collaborate on technology development with Aerion Corporation, the Reno, Nevada, company that has been working over the last decade to develop a supersonic business jet. “To further their mutual objectives, both companies will exchange knowledge and capabilities in design, manufacturing and certification,” Aerion announced on Monday. Airbus will provide technical and […]

Aireon LLC, a private company based in McLean, Virginia, announced a plan over the weekend to offer global emergency tracking as a public service to the aviation community, free of charge, by 2017. The Aireon Alert service will allow rescue agencies to request the location and last flight track of any 1090 MHz ADS-B equipped […]

Two Illinois congressmen have introduced legislation that would force the FAA to abandon a controversial new recruitment process to fill an anticipated 10,000 air traffic controller openings over the next 10 years. Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren and Democrat Dan Lipinski introduced the Safe Towers Act on Friday. The bill, if passed, will force the FAA […]

While there is currently no backlog of certification applications at the FAA, the agency says it’s changing the way it processes those applications. The new process replaces “project sequencing” with a system the FAA says “offers applicants increased predictability and a commitment to a response time for the review of the applicant’s compliance data.” The […]

The FAA says it’s done its part and now it’s up to the aviation industry to meet the 2020 deadline for mandatory ADS-B equipage. To that end the agency will hold a “call to action summit” to discuss how to bring tens of thousands of aircraft into compliance in a little more than six years. […]

AOPA says pretty much anything to do with aircraft storage and active maintenance and construction should be considered an “aeronautical use” and be permitted in hangars on federally funded airports. In comments to the FAA (PDF) on its proposed policy on the definition of aeronautical uses, AOPA says it wants the FAA’s policy to use […]