News

Sikorsky and Aurora Flight Sciences have been awarded the first two development contracts in an effort by the Air Force’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to create a hybrid aircraft that can hover but also reach a top speed of up to 400 knots. The VTOL X-Plane project gave Sikorsky $14.4 million and Aurora […]

The headquarters of the International Association of Machinists has overruled local leaders in Seattle and ordered a vote on Boeing’s latest contract offer to guarantee production of its new 777X in Washington. The vote will be held Jan. 3. As we reported last week, the Puget Sound leadership rejected Boeing’s Dec. 12 offer without a […]

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will meet in March to update 50-year-old rules dealing with in-flight disturbances by passengers. The announcement came after increasing pressure from airlines to beef up their defenses against an increasingly hostile cabin environment. According to the Los Angeles Times, the International Air Transport Association says the number of reported […]

The FAA and NORAD both are doing their part to keep an eye on Santa’s Christmas deliveries this week. NORAD’s site features games, movies, music, and of course, on Christmas Eve, live tracking of Santa’s route around the globe. The FAA is promoting NextGen at its Christmas site, saying the system “helps Santa deliver presents […]

For the round-the-world flight planned for Solar Impulse in 2015, a solo pilot will have to fly legs of up to 72 hours, so last week the team staged a simulation at their base in Switzerland. Bertrand Piccard, the leader of the nonprofit group and one of the two pilots for the solar-powered electric airplane, […]

Cessna this week started deliveries of both the all-new Citation M2 light jet and the Citation Sovereign+, an upgrade to a design in service since 2004. The M2, in the works since 2011, offers a six-passenger cabin and aims to provide a step up for Mustang owners and turboprop pilots. “The Citation M2 is a […]

Mozambique authorities say the captain of a Mozambique Airlines Embraer E-190 deliberately crashed the plane in Namibia last month killing all 33 people on board. As we reported in November, the aircraft, the newest in the airline’s fleet, went down in heavy rain on a flight to Angola. According to the BBC, Joao Abreu, head […]

A British Airways Boeing 747 destroyed part of a building along with the travel plans of its 189 passengers on Sunday when the aircraft’s right wing sliced the top off much of the brick structure next to a taxiway at Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. The airline has confirmed the incident but is not […]

The pilot of a Tampa Police helicopter and his partner say they were just doing their jobs when they landed beside the burning wreck of a Cessna 210 and pulled its pilot to safety on Thursday. Pilot Dave Dennison and partner Brian Burke were on routine patrol just before midnight when they heard the distress […]

For the second time in two months, a publication is reporting that Beechcraft is about to be sold and Beechcraft is again refusing to confirm the report. As we reported in October, Bloomberg quoted unnamed sources saying negotiations were under way to sell the storied but frequently troubled aviation icon for about $1.5 billion to […]