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In preparation for a planned round-the-world flight in 2015, the builders of Solar Impulse, the world’s largest solar-powered electric airplane, will conduct a 72-hour simulation next week, during which pilot Bertrand Piccard will experiment with using self-hypnosis as a means to fight fatigue. “I hope it will work,” he said. During the 2015 flight, a […]

Bell Helicopter has announced it will build its new Short Light Single helicopter at Lafayette Regional Airport in Louisiana. The SLS is a restart of the iconic JetRanger line, an updated five-seat turbine single that will include modern technology standard on bigger airframes. It’s aimed at the utility, law enforcement and flight training sector and […]

“Education of the many would have far greater public health impact than regulation of the few,” the Civil Aviation Medical Association, which represents FAA aviation medical examiners, said in a recent letter to the FAA, regarding its proposed sleep-apnea policy. The letter (PDF), posted online Tuesday by EAA, objects to the FAA’s proposal that AMEs […]

Last year, the showcase military teams were grounded by federal budget problems, but for the 2014 airshow season, both the USAF Thunderbirds and the Navy’s Blue Angels are back in full force. The Thunderbirds released their full schedule last week at the International Council of Air Shows annual conference, and the Blue Angels also announced […]

After an Air Wisconsin pilot was fired from his job and boarded a commercial flight to go home, his former employers alerted the TSA that he might be armed and mentally unstable, launching a legal dispute that made it to the Supreme Court this week. William Hoeper was fired in 2004 after he failed several […]

As air travelers brace for the annual holiday ordeal that awaits many of them, Canadian budget carrier WestJet had a holiday miracle in store for passengers on two of its flights earlier this week. The airline began by creating present-shaped check-in kiosks at Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario airports for two flights bound for its hub […]

User fees will likely form the foundation of a bipartisan budget deal aimed at avoiding another government shutdown and that has at least one aviation group calling its members to action. House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his Senate counterpart Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., are negotiating a spending plan that would avoid […]

While it seems a lot of billionaires are apparently pining for just one Gulfstream G650, an Egyptian family took delivery of two of the now-$65 million bizjets last week. Nasef Awiris and his father Onsi got their aircraft three days apart at the early order price of $59 million. According to Corporate Jet Investor, the […]

Textron is aiming for first flight of the Scorpion jet on Tuesday at Cessnas facility in Wichita, with a follow-up flight Thursday if all goes well, and weather permitting, DefenseNews.com reported Friday. The jet sports a two-seat tandem cockpit and turns twin turbofan engines. It supports six hard points capable of holding anything from drop […]

The Navy said Thursday that it successfully launched the XFC folding-wing unmanned aerial system (UAS, or drone) from a torpedo tube on the USS Providence, while the submarine was submerged. The all-electric, fuel-cell-powered aircraft has an X-wing configuration in flight that folds for storage and launch. The UAS was delivered from the submarine to the […]