News

LightHawk, a nonprofit group that uses airplanes to promote environmental-protection efforts, has recently been working in Panama to help an indigenous group trying to protect their land. The Wounaan have lived along Panama’s Pacific Coast for generations, says LightHawk, and have proved to be able stewards of the tropical forest, preserving some of the region’s […]

AOPA has offered guidance to GA pilots if they are met with an intimidating show of force as they’re going about their business. (PDF) In the last few weeks there have been widely circulated reports about law-abiding pilots being confronted by heavily armed local cops and federal Customs and Border Protection agents who appear to […]

Roscoe Morton, “The Voice” of EAA fly-ins for 50 years, died June 15 in Frostproof, Fla., at the age of 81. EAA reported that Morton started calling the airshow portion of what became AirVenture when it was being held in Rockford, Ill. Over the years he took over as the announcers’ manager and retired in […]

Pilot Charlie Schwenker and wingwalker Jane Wicker were killed when they crashed while performing on Saturday. The duo was performing at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton. The rest of the show was cancelled but resumed on Sunday. Spectator videos (graphic and disturbing images) show Wicker hanging upside down from the lower wing of the […]

A Belgian company called Sagita earned attention at this year’s Paris Air Show with its Sherpa mockup, a two-seat, 575-pound helicopter turning counter-rotating blades driven by a compressor system. The compressor is driven by a 130-hp powerplant. It takes air in at the rear of the fuselage and then splits its output, sending some air […]

The FAA said Friday that recommendations from an advisory panel that could lead to broader approved use of personal electronic devices aboard airliners have been delayed. Originally expected this summer, the FAA is now says it expects to receive the recommendations this September. Cellphone use is reportedly not within the scope of the panel’s focus. […]

ICON Aircraft announced Thursday that it has completed a final round of equity funding that will bring its amphibious A5 aircraft through demonstrated regulatory compliance and into full-scale production, but questions remain. The company did not make an announcement regarding its effort to seek an exemption from the FAA that would allow the A5 to […]

They’re aware that about 12 of their 400,000 members have been stopped and searched by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and AOPA Wednesday sent a letter to CBP seeking clarification regarding the authority for, and legal limits of, such searches. According to AOPA, none of its pilot members who have been stopped knew of any […]

In 2011, Didier Esteyne and EADS debuted a tiny, single-seat, aerobatic electric-powered Cri-Cri at the Paris Air Show and this year returned with the E-Fan, a twin ducted-fan, electric-powered, aerobatic, tandem-seat trainer project. The project is co-funded by the French civil aviation authority and other government entities. Aside from shrouded propellers the design incorporates a […]

A documentary film called TWA Flight 800 is attracting attention through its claims that the NTSB’s four-year investigation into the 1996 crash included intentionally falsified information and a phony conclusion, and that the case should be reopened — but some key players are, so far, unimpressed. Tom Stalcup, the documentary’s co-producer, says the movie does […]