News

United Airlines will start using the Boeing 787 on domestic routes on May 20, USA Today reported on Wednesday. A flight from Houston to Chicago will be the airline’s first flight for the jet since it was grounded by the FAA in mid-January, after two incidents when the airplane’s lithium-ion batteries overheated. It’s also the […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. House members led by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., has introduced a bill designed to propel revisions to FAA Part 23 certification standards into law. The Small Aircraft Revitalization Act of 2013 will establish a “date certain” for implementation of FAA’s Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recommendations, which were […]

It’s still a buyer’s market for business aircraft of all shapes and sizes and the stubborn cycle shows no sign of relenting, although it is changing. A report prepared by JETNET says the number of transactions is on the increase, too. “As 2013 unfolds there remains a large inventory of business aircraft available at very […]

The burned wreckage of an Antonov An-2 biplane with 13 people on board that crashed last June in Russia was found late Saturday, and officials confirmed that all 13 were found dead at the scene. The airplane had taken off after 11 p.m. from an airport in the Ural mountains, reportedly by “revelers … who […]

Business aircraft use still hasn’t recovered to pre-recession levels but some sectors of the economy are using airplanes a lot more than they used to. A study by JSSI, a large support and technical advisorycompany reported by CNBC, says those in the transportation business have more than doubled their aircraft use recently in search of […]

The FAA already has approved a fix to allow operators to re-launch the 787 fleet within weeks, but meanwhile the NTSB is still searching for the root cause of the battery problem. In a solicitation notice posted online Friday, the board said it is planning to conduct “teardown examinations as soon as possible of several […]

Nearly 4,800 repair stations around the world provide aircraft repair services to U.S. carriers, and the FAA is not doing enough to oversee them, the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said on Monday. “We found that while FAA developed a risk-assessment process to aid repair station inspectors in identifying areas of greatest concern, its […]

While Terrafugia continues to work on their Transition roadable-aircraft design, on Monday the company unveiled a plan to develop a four-seat, plug-in hybrid electric car capable of vertical takeoffs and landings, with fly-by-wire controls. The TF-X design is “designed to be a flying car for all of us,” says the company website. It will be […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to watch on YouTube. Harvard University researchers have demonstrated a fly-sized UAV that actually mimics insect flight. The researchers spent 12 years developing the robo-fly, which uses piezoelectric devices that contract and release when power is switched on […]

The FAA says it needs more information before it can decide whether to exempt the Icon A5 from the upper weight limit restriction for amphibious light sport aircraft and allow it to weigh 1680 pounds. As AOPA reported last week, the agency wrote a letter (PDF) to Icon President Kirk Hawkins that due to “the […]