News

Spike Aerospace, an engineering firm based in Boston, has joined the ranks of companies working to bring to market a new supersonic jet. Spike, which launched in 2011, says its S-512 will carry 12 to 18 passengers, sell for about $80 million, and reach speeds up to Mach 1.8. The company hopes to find a […]

The FAA has confirmed to AVweb that the NFL will not have to pay for the extra costs of providing air traffic services in the New York area that result from Sunday’s Super Bowl game in New Jersey.In an email to AVweb late Sunday, the agency also indicated that last year’s game in New Orleans […]

A Minnesota brewery’s airborne solution to the preventable yet apparently prevalent problem of running out of beer while ice fishing has been shot down by the FAA. Lakemaid Brewery’s clever use of a six-rotor drone to whisk the frosty brews to their icebound customers runs afoul of the agency’s current ban on the commercial use […]

There aren’t many “clothing optional” $100 hamburger destinations and the aviation community is being urged to help protect the unique, uh, nature of the so-called Chicken Strip in Death Valley National Park in eastern California. The National Parks Service (NPS) is pondering the future of the Saline Valley Warm Springs, an isolated but popular wilderness […]

Boeing showed it was on board with the hometown favorite Seattle Seahawks in Sunday’s Super Bowl game with a two-pronged assumption of the role of the team’s 12th member. The Seahawks have one of the game’s noisiest stadiums and the team calls its fans the “12th man” so Boeing ran with the theme when it […]

Aspen Avionics and FreeFlight Systems have announced partnerships with the $1.5 billion NextGen Equipage Funds financing program to help general aviation aircraft owners obtain inexpensive financing to meet the ADS-B and other mandated avionics retrofits. With over 150,000 aircraft affected, the NextGen Fund will provide financing at competitive rates backed by loan guarantees and will […]

The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an investigative hearing on February 20, 2014 into the crash of a UPS Airbus A300-600 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013. The two flight crew members were killed and the airplane was destroyed when it impacted the ground less than a […]

Our weekly review of press releases uncovered news that King Schools has cut the price of its ATP ground school course by 50%. It is to help pilots who wish to obtain their ATP rating before the August 1, 2014 deadline when the new, more difficult and extremely expensive requirements go into effect. Martha King […]

The FAA is taking too long to draft its rules for unmanned aircraft systems, and should go ahead and allow some limited UAS operations, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said this week. In areas such as around powerlines or pipelines and above rural farms, UAS operations could commence with little risk to manned […]

Aviation insurance broker NationAir Aviation Insurance released its annual analysis of the aviation insurance market. It said it believes 2013 marked another year of relatively soft market (low) rates in all sectors of general aviation and that attention to expenses by insurers mean rates should remain stable going forward.While the market conditions have remained the […]