News

Over the next 12 months, UK carrier easyJet plans to find out if they can improve the efficiency of their operations by removing moisture weight from their aircraft, the airline announced Wednesday. The carrier’s yearlong test involves installation of 66-pound “Zonal Dryer” systems in four Airbus A320 aircraft. It is hoped that the system, provided […]

Two large tethered helium blimps carrying surveillance gear will be deployed for testing by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, somewhere near Washington, D.C.’s airspace by the end of September, Reuters reported this week. The blimps, each of them about 243 feet long, can reach altitudes up to 10,000 feet and stay […]

The Red Bull Stratos team this week released its final analysis of the data collected from Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall last October. Baumgartner, the team said, experienced 25.2 seconds of weightlessness during his free fall, and reached a speed of Mach 1.25, or 843.6 mph, even faster than originally estimated. His jump altitude was revised […]

Seven aviation and aerospace projects have been named as contenders for the 2012 Robert J. Collier Trophy, the National Aeronautic Association announced this week. The nominees are: the Gulfstream G650; Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team; Lockheed Martin’s autonomous K-Max helicopter; the NASA/JPL Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity project; the NASA/JPL Voyager Interstellar Mission project; […]

The ninth edition of Aero India runs Feb. 6-10 at Air Force Station, Yelahanka, near Bangalore, and the growth of the show follows the increasing importance of India as a civilian and military aviation market. Hundreds of exhibitors and a major static display will be featured in the show. Most major manufacturers will be represented […]

Aviation groups have been quick to react to remarks by President Obama’s Press Secretary Jay Carney, who likened the depreciation schedule on business aircraft to a “loophole.” Carney included the reference in a question-and-answer session with the White House press corps after remarks by Obama on tackling government debt. Derision of business aviation has been […]

Charlottesville, Va., says it’s the first civic jurisdiction to pass a resolution opposing the use of unmanned aerial systems based on the “serious threat to the privacy and constitutional rights of the American people” it believes the widespread use of drones presents. The resolution by the Charlottesville city council calls for a two-year moratorium on […]

Boeing has asked the FAA for permission to conduct test flights with a 787, and the FAA is expected to give the OK as early as this week, according to news reports on Tuesday. Boeing has not released any details about the purpose of the tests. The Seattle Times reported that sources said the initial […]

With a new Congress now in session in Washington, NBAA this week said now is the time for pilots around the country to contact their elected representatives and ask them to join the general aviation caucuses in the House and Senate. NBAA President Ed Bolen said the bipartisan groups “inform legislative debates by highlighting the […]

A Sunwing Airlines flight had to divert to Bermuda after a family of smokers found lighting up in the lavatory refused to cooperate with the cabin crew and became verbally abusive. The flight was en route from Halifax to the Dominican Republic on Friday night when a mother, father and two sons ages 16 and […]