News

Autopilots and autothrottles commonly used on modern aircraft are useful tools but may have already led to degraded piloting skills, according to the FAA, which earlier this month released a safety alert to encourage manual flight operations. In a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) the FAA said flight operations data has identified “an increase in […]

Gary Sinise plans to donate to charity all proceeds from his new DVD, “High Flight,” a newly released documentary that follows his flight in a Lockheed U2 Dragon Lady and comes fresh on the heels of the CIA’s release of that aircraft’s “Utility Flight Handbook.” The CIA last week declassified the Lockheed’s 1959 flight handbook, […]

Diamond Aircraft’s Austro Engines has bench tested a new dual FADEC-controlled rotary aircraft engine, the AE80R, that aims to match a weight of 60 pounds with a power output of 80 hp. The engine has been in development for more than two years and builds on Austro’s experience with the AE50R 55-hp rotary engine but […]

Divers cleaning up garbage in the shallow waters off Midway Atoll in the Pacific discovered wreckage from a World War II Brewster Buffalo last summer, the New York Times reported recently. Only one intact copy from the original fleet still exists, and it’s on exhibit in Finland, the Times said. The Buffalo is “a very […]

China has still not certified the Boeing 787 and it’s delaying delivery of aircraft to Chinese airlines. According to Reuters the Chinese government says the approval process is going “smoothly” but at least one airline has had its delivery date pushed back. China Southern Airlines was supposed to get the first of 10 Dreamliners in […]

EAA Chairman and Acting President Jack Pelton says the organization will not change a fundamental policy and pay appearance fees for certain aircraft to attend AirVenture Oshkosh. Pelton was commenting on a decision by Fighter Factory President Jerry Yagen to have his exceptionally rare Second World War demonstration aircraft steer clear of the big show […]

The “fiscal cliff” act that was signed into law last week will extend 50-percent bonus depreciation through the end of this year for buyers of new business aircraft, the National Business Aviation Association said. “Accelerated depreciation has consistently proven to stimulate sales in difficult economic conditions,” said NBAA President Ed Bolen. “Given the current marketing […]

Hawker Beechcraft has reached an agreement with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to take over two underfunded pension plans covering existing non-union and already-retired employees. Under the deal, the company, which hopes to exit bankruptcy protection in the next few months, will continue to fund the pension plan for its current and former unionized employees. […]

NASA said this week it has made a lot of progress with its Environmentally Responsible Aviation project for reducing the industry’s noise, emissions and fuel burn, and announced plans to take its work from the laboratory into flight testing. “The real challenge is to integrate ideas and pieces together,” said Fay Collier, ERA project manager […]

A smoky fire in a Boeing 787 parked at Logan Airport in Boston Monday morning started with a battery in the almost-new aircraft’s auxiliary power unit, local fire officials said. The Japan Airlines 787 had been in service less than a month. Passengers disembarked after the nonstop flight from Tokyo arrived at about 10 a.m., […]