News

Eurocopter said on Tuesday its X3 hybrid helicopter reached 255 knots in level flight last week, unofficially breaking the helicopter speed record. Sikorsky’s X2 had reached a speed of 253 knots before it retired in 2011. The X3 reached its top speed while flying at an altitude of about 10,000 feet during a 40-minute test […]

When the original Eclipse jet was certified, back in 2005, the FAA approved the airframe for a 10,000-hour lifetime, and last week, the owners of Eclipse Aerospace said the FAA had agreed to double that. “An actual Eclipse jet was subject to the movements, loads, and fatigue that would normally be experienced over more than […]

It’s been a few years since there was a first flight of a clean sheet airliner design but it seems likely there will be two by the end of the month. Airbus announced the first flight of its A350 will be June 14 at 10 a.m. in Toulouse, France. Assuming that goes well, the A350 […]

Embraer has released a splashy new promotional video featuring its business jet spokesman, actor Jackie Chan. The video, described by Embraer as a “cinematic short film,” has the production values of a Hollywood trailer and packs a plot, special effects and generous views of the cabin into a six-minute package aimed at getting across the […]

A New York state flight school owner says he’ll be forced to close at the end of June because of a new sales tax ruling that has already cost schools and individual aircraft owners thousands of dollars. Bob Miller, who owns Bob Miller Flight Training in Buffalo, said in an interview with AVweb he predicts […]

Waco Classic Aircraft Corporation has unveiled the first conforming new-productionGreat Lakes2T-1A-2, culminating a project that launched a couple of years ago.The open-cockpit two-seat tandem biplane features a Lycoming AEIO-360 180-HP engine, fuel injection, and a Hartzell propeller. It’s fully aerobatic, and sells for about $245,000. The first three aircraft for customers are already in production, […]

A new rule proposed by the FAA this week would permit aircraft to land at airports with zero visibility using an Enhanced Flight Vision System. The proposal also would allow commercial operators to dispatch aircraft when the destination airport is forecast to be below minimums, and would establish training and proficiency criteria for pilots. An […]

The FAA on Monday asked the world’s fuel producers to submit proposals for new fuels that could replace 100LL in the general aviation fleet by 2018, a move that GA advocacy groups greeted with enthusiasm. The FAA said it will assess each of the candidate fuels, taking into account production and distribution infrastructure, impact on […]

About 90 vintage military aircraft have registered to take part in the Gathering of Warbirds and Legends in Topeka, Kan., from Aug. 2-4 and in keeping with the cooperative and community-service nature of the event, Second World War vets are being offered free rides on rare aircraft from the era. “We have owners lined up […]

The NTSB has determined that two cousins age 23 and 34 were killed in the crash of a rented Cirrus SR-22T on Nov. 13, 2011, near Boynton Beach, Fla., while attempting aerobatics. There were no other occupants aboard the aircraft, which impacted in a marsh. A pilot who witnessed the crash told the NTSB that […]