News

A SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable rocket was intentionally exploded over the company’s Texas proving grounds on Friday after onboard systems detected an unspecified “anomaly.” The spacecraft disappeared in a fireball shortly after launch.”During the flight, an anomaly was detected in the vehicle and the flight termination system automatically terminated the mission,” the company said in […]

Model aircraft hobbyists, research universities and commercial drone interests filed lawsuits Friday challenging a government directive that they say imposes tough new limits on the use of model aircraft and broadens the agency’s ban on commercial drone flights. According to ABC News, the three lawsuits asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of […]

A Chinese Su-27 fighter made several “dangerous” and “unprofessional” passes at a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon this week-coming as close as an estimated 20 feet at one point-in what the White House calleda “deeply concerning provocation.” The incident, which is reportedly in violation of international law, occurred Tuesday in international airspace in the South China […]

The aviation industry has been warned about the possibility of flight disruptions caused by activity at Iceland’s largest volcano system. Intense seismic tremors have been recorded at Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano for the past several days, although there are no signs yet of an eruption. Iceland’s Met Office has raised the risk level to the aviation […]

A helicopter tourism pilot used his Robinson R44 helicopter to scare a shark away from a calving whale along the west coast of Australia last week. Sean Blocksidge, proprietor of Wild Blue Helicopters of Margaret River, Western Australia, was on a flight with his friend and company pilot Brett Campany to do some aerial photography […]

Lockheed Martin has successfully completed a test mission involving resupply, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition, all of it conducted completely by autonomous vehicles, the company said last week. The test, at Fort Benning, Georgia, was designed to simulate a mission to resupply soldiers defending a village. The K-Max unmanned helicopter delivered an autonomous military ground […]

A new proposed airworthiness directive issued by the FAA on Wednesday affects up to 6,000 general aviation aircraft, mostly (but not limited to) Pipers and Cessnas, equipped with Meggitt (Troy) Inc. combustion heaters. The required inspections would cost about $425, the FAA said, and if repairs are needed, the cost could rise above $6,000. An […]

Textron Aviation is closing former Cessna fractional operator CitationAir and selling the remaining airplanes. CitationAir was started in 2000 as CitationShares, a division of Cessna. Cessna stopped selling shares in new aircraft and jet cards two years ago and it’s ceasing flight operations Oct. 31. “We previously communicated with our customers regarding the decision to […]

A couple of new companies are trying fresh approaches to pull high-value business travellers out of the backpack and tennis shoe mainstream of modern air travel. La Compagnie is the latest to begin an “all business class” service to Europe. The airline has put 74 lie-flat seats two-by-two in the long narrow cabin of a […]

Eclipse Aerospace laid off “several” workers from its plant in Albuquerque last week. “I’ve had much better days,” Eclipse Aerospace Senior Vice President Ed Lundeen told Albuquerque Business First on Friday. “The bottom line is that the market has not recovered yet. We’re not seeing the sales we planned for,” he said. Lundeen told AVweb […]