News

Disney Movies is following up last summer’s animated feature, “Planes,” with a sequel, “Planes: Fire & Rescue,” opening nationwide on Friday. The comedy-adventure features some of the same characters, including Dusty, the ag-plane/air racer, voiced by Dane Cook. Other actors in the cast include Julie Bowen and Ed Harris. Last year, the first feature got […]

The F-35 has been approved for flight but the Pentagon apparently doesn’t want it flying over any oceans for now. The aircraft was due to make its international debut at the Farnborough Airshow this week but the trip has been officially cancelled. The aircraft was grounded after a June 23 engine fire that was traced […]

A new company, MVP.aero, said this week it will debut a “radical” new amphibian LSA design at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, later this month. According to the company, the amphib will be “the world’s most versatile plane.” The design is by Mike van Staagen, who worked with Cirrus Aircraft for more than 20 years, where he […]

Airbus flew its E-Fan 2.0 technology demonstrator at the opening day of the Farnborough Airshow on Monday, and said it plans to have a certified version on the market by late 2017. The two-seat aircraft, aimed at the general aviation training market, would be the first certified all-electric aircraft in the world, the company said. […]

A fire in an F-35 engine was caused by “excessive” rubbing of fan blades in the engine, Pentagon official Frank Kendall said this week, adding that the cause doesn’t appear to be a fundamental design flaw. The fleet of 97 new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, operated by the Navy and Air Force, has been grounded […]

Sonex Aircraft flew its JSX-2 single-seat single-engine jet for the first time, last Thursday, the company announced on Monday. The jet was subsequently flown several more times and proved “fast and smooth,” according to test pilot Bob Carlton. Carlton said he practiced stalls in the jet and flew at speeds above 200 mph. The company […]

The namesake of the pilot at the center of one of aviation’s enduring mysteries completed a circumnavigation that, in part, symbolically completed the original attempt. Amelia Rose Earhart touched down at Oakland International Airport Friday after a 16-day flight in a Pilatus PC-12NG. Earhart, who is not related to the aviatrix who disappeared on a […]

Authorities are investigating the apparently well-planned theft of avionics from all 23 resident aircraft at Jerry Sumners Sr. Aurora Municipal Airport in Aurora, Mo., last Wednesday. According to KY3 News, thieves broke into every hangar at the airport and then removed the GPS, radios and transponders from every aircraft. The loss is in the hundreds […]

Testimony at a coroner’s inquest in England has revived a disputed theory that a crocodile on the loose may have led to the crash of a Filair Let-140 regional airliner in Africa in 2010. The aircraft crashed near Bandundu, Congo, killing 19 of the 20 passengers and crew on board. The inquest was told that […]

The NTSB has cited the FAA’s special issuance medical policies as a contributing factor in the death of an airshow pilot in 2011. In its final report (top of the queue) on the crash of a T-28 at the Thunder Over the Blue Ridge show in Martinsburg, W. Va., the board determined that the airplane […]