News

Major Douglas Witmer, flying on exchange with the Argentine air force, was recognized at the Pentagon this month for safely returning to the ground an AT-63 Pampa II aircraft (and his student) after losing 80 percent of his left wing to a midair. Witmer was flying as part of a six-plane demonstration formation on Aug. […]

GE is researching whether cold-spray technology can be deployed to build or repair aircraft engine parts and possibly extend the lifespan of those parts (and others) by years or, more optimistically, decades. GE believes that engine parts made by cold-spray processes, also known as 3D painting, will be less expensive to produce and will be […]

China has declared an airspace defense zone over the East China Sea above territory claimed by South Korea and Japan, prompting criticism from Japan, the U.S., and South Korea, and some direct challenges in recent days. China declared the zone, Saturday, saying it would police the airspace. Japan, the U.S. and South Korea have refused […]

President Obama has signed into law the Small Airplane Revitalization Act, a measure that is designed to streamline certification of new aircraft and simplify the modification of existing aircraft. The new law directs the FAA to change Part 23 by the end of 2015 to create “twice the safety at half the cost” in terms […]

Two years of research and 57 prototypes have led to a prototype smartphone-controllable paper airplane now seeking to become available on multiple platforms with the help of a Kickstarter.com campaign. Inventor, pilot and aviation enthusiast Shai Goiteins third-generation product includes a tiny electric motor, a battery that lasts up to 10 minutes in flight, a […]

For aircraft, increases in aerodynamic efficiency often translate to increases in economic efficiency, and NASAs bug team has recently concluded tests on eight different coatings designed to reduce bug accumulation for that very purpose. The team flew NASA Langleys HU-25C Falcon jet through low-altitude flight this past summer in Virginia. The flights included multiple departures […]

Despite a quick and loud uproar from pilot advocacy groups about planned changes in sleep-apnea assessment by medical examiners, the FAA moved forward this week with its new policy, publishing a “Fact Sheet” online. In the new Fact Sheet, posted on Tuesday, the FAA says it is “not changing its medical standards related to OSA […]

Textron, the parent company of Cessna, is getting ready to fly the prototype of the Scorpion light attack jet it’s developing with a company called AirLand Enterprises LLC. The joint venture hopes to have the Scorpion flying by Dec. 5. AirLand has no operating website that we can find but LinkedIn names its CEO as […]

A jellyfish and an owl have inspired researchers recently with new insights about how to fly more efficiently and with less noise. The oscillating movement used by jellyfish underwater can translate into aerial capabilities, as proven by a tiny hovercraft built by Leif Ristroph, a mathematician at New York University. The tiny 3-inch-wide prototype, which […]

Textron, the parent company of Cessna and Bell Helicopter, announced on Friday that it has agreed to buy two flight simulation and aircraft training companies — Mechtronix, based in Montreal, and Opinicus Corp., based in Lutz, Fla. The two companies will be combined with Textron’s existing training and simulation business for military pilots in South […]