News

Few aviation operations are as tricky and dangerous as helicopter flights to and from oil rigs, but recently Sikorsky introduced commercial use of an automated approach system that reduces pilot workload by up to 60 percent. The new “Rig Approach” system was in development for five years. Sikorsky worked with PHI, which operates S-92 and […]

Belite Aircraft has developed an amphibious floatplane that doesn’t require a pilot’s certificate to fly. The single-seat Sealite weighs less than 338 pounds empty and meets FAR 103 requirements for ultralight float-equipped “vehicles,” as the FAA calls them. The Sealite, however, looks every inch an airplane and flew on Tuesday, the 110th anniversary of the […]

A Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter crew made a dramatic rescue of a crane operator trapped by a major fire on the new student housing complex he was helping to build in downtown Kingston, Ontario, Tuesday. Witnesses heard a series of explosions before flames engulfed the building, which had a large construction crane installed in […]

In a factory above the Arctic Circle, workers this week are hard at work — not making toys, but finishing up the newest updated version of the Atol Amphibian, a Finnish design that has been flying since the 1990s as a homebuilt. “We have redesigned and modernized it totally, by using the newest technology and […]

Southwest has installed water-vapor sensors on 87 of its 737s, and is sharing the data with the National Weather Service. “We have seen improvements in the capabilities for forecasting severe thunderstorms, and also the forecast of whether the storm is going to produce rain, snow, freezing rain, or sleet,” said Carl Weiss, an aviation meteorologist […]

A computer programmer has published online a free set of instructions that allow a simple toy Parrot drone to become a “skyjacker.” Samy Kamkar said the SkyJack drone is “engineered to autonomously seek out, hack and wirelessly take over other drones within wifi distance, creating an army of zombie drones under your control.” Kamkar, who […]

An online effort to help bring the all-electric e-volo Volocopter to market has set new fundraising records, the company said last week. A half-million euros were raised in the first 2 hours and 35 minutes, setting a new record for the European Union. The effort continued on to raise 1.2 million Euros in just under […]

The FCC’s proposal to scrap its ban on cellphone use in aircraft has prompted the Department of Transportation to consider a ban of its own. It’s now the FCC that technically keeps us all from using a cell phone while in an aircraft of any type but the focus of the current action is for […]

Prison officials in Quebec say they have to beef up air defenses around their facilities after a remotely piloted aircraft dropped a package that likely contained drugs into the Hull Prison near Ottawa, Ontario. “We have to adjust,” Stephane Lemaire, president of the union representing prison guards, told the Ottawa Citizen. If they are able […]

Textron AirLand says response from military and paramilitary organizations to the first flight of its Scorpion tactical jet has been overwhelmingly positive and the twin jet may appear at airshows this coming season. Dale Tutt, the chief engineer on the project, told AVweb in a podcast interview the Scorpion, which will cost “somewhere south of […]