News

Technology in development at Tufts University in Boston could detect when an air traffic controller’s over-tasked brain is nearing the saturation point and instantly redistribute the workload, according to a report this week in the Boston Globe. Computer scientist Robert Jacob and biomedical engineer Sergio Fantini are working together to create a headband that reads […]

A U.S. Navy pilot was killed when an F/A-18C training aircraft crashed Saturday afternoon about 70 miles east of the Naval Air Station in Fallon, Nev. “Initial reports from the scene indicate the aircraft is a total loss,” said Lt. Reagan Lauritzen, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Pacific Fleet in San Diego. “It […]

Operators of about 500 Boeing 737 aircraft would have to replace or upgrade autothrottle computers to comply with a proposed airworthiness directive published by the FAA on Monday. The AD would mandate actions that Boeing already has recommended to operators via service bulletins. The AD was “prompted by reports in which a single, undetected, erroneous […]

Pipistrels sleek Panthera retractable, announced two years ago, will soon have a six-cylinder Lycoming IO-540 rather than the IO-390 originally planned. The engine switch was forced because Lycoming wont be approving the IO-390 for mogas, according to Pipistrel. The IO-540 replacement, which Pipistrel says will improve short-field and high density altitude takeoff performance, will be […]

A British company has parlayed a $300 million project abandoned by the U.S. Army into a media spectacle that might launch a commercial airship business. Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) had originally partnered with Northrop Grumman to develop the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, a lighter-than-air vehicle with aerodynamic properties that nominally put it into a new […]

The FAA says an airworthiness directive banning most early Cessna twins (except 337s) from flight into known icing is necessary because too many pilots were ignoring a mandatory service bulletin issued by the company in 1997 that says the same thing. Cessna sent out the bulletin after it became clear that even a little ice […]

A new report released this week by the Government Accountability Office offers a mixed view of whether the much-discussed airline pilot shortage actually exists, but it does confirm that regional airlines are having trouble finding qualified pilots. The GAO report (PDF), which was done at the behest of Congress, found that the projected need for […]

Defending champion Paul Bonhomme of the U.K. edged arch rival Hannes Arch of Austria to win the first event in the revived Red Bull Air Race series in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Bonhomme, who won the 2009 and 2010 Red Bull titles over Arch, before the race series took a recession-induced three-year hiatus, won the […]

In a strongly-wordedposting on its website, the FAA directly addressed what it called misconceptions and misinformation about unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) regulations. It listed seven common myths and set out the underlying facts on each. The myths include that the FAA doesnt control airspace below 400 feet-it is responsible for all U.S. airspace from the […]

During March, the NTSB will offer two courses related to accident investigation and one on accident response and victim family support at its training center in Auburn, Va. The Aircraft Accident Investigation course will run from March 31 through April 11 and is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the procedures and […]