News

All 29 aboard an Embraer-E120ER Brasilia turboprop survived a ditching off the Comoros Islands near Mozambique Tuesday; one passenger, a military officer, told Reuters he saw fuel leaking out of the aircraft “like an open tap” after takeoff. The aircraft, a T-tail low wing, was operated by Inter-Iles Air, carrying 25 passengers and four crew. […]

Michael Huerta has been working as “acting administrator” in the top job at the FAA since Randy Babbitt’s sudden departure following a drunk-driving arrest last December, but now the Republicans in Congress have lifted a block to his confirmation. After Huerta was approved for the FAA job by a Senate committee in July, Republican Sen. […]

The classic biplane that flew above the savanna in the popular Academy-Award-winning 1985 film “Out of Africa” will go up for auction in February in Paris, Bonhams announced this week. The biplane was featured in several scenes when stars Meryl Streep and Robert Redford flew together to explore the beauty and wildlife of the Kenya […]

Avionics companies L-3 and Avidyne will square off in court in February over L-3’s claim that Avidyne copied some of its technology in the Entegra glass cockpit system. According to an Avidyne news release, the issue boils down to the method used to calibrate an electronic attitude indicator to correct for the alignment of the […]

Embraer flew its all-new midsize Legacy 500 jet for the first time on Tuesday, for an hour and 45 minutes. It’s the first jet in its class to use a fly-by-wire control system, according to Embraer. It also features a large cabin for up to 12 passengers with six feet of headroom. Two Honeywell HTF […]

A recent report (PDF) from the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General found that contract towers are cheaper to operate than FAA towers. The contract towers also had a lower rate of safety incidents compared to similar FAA towers. “On average, a contract tower cost about $1.5million less to operate than a comparable FAA tower, […]

Bombardier has agreed to sell 56 Global jets to VistaJet, with options for 86 more, constituting the biggest business jet sale in its history, the company said on Tuesday. If all options are exercised, the sale would total $7.8 billion. “By any standard, this is a historic order for Bombardier,” said Steve Ridolfi, president of […]

Cessna has finalized a deal to build Caravan turboprops in China under a contract signed between the Wichita mainstay and China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company Ltd, which is the same company that owns Cirrus Aircraft. The deal may be the vanguard of a larger presence in what has long been predicted to be the […]

If you own or operate a GA aircraft, the FAA’s annual safety survey needs your data. The survey is the only official source of information about the activities of the GA fleet, including the number of hours flown and the reasons people fly, and this Friday is the deadline for you to participate. The survey […]

Solar flight pioneer Eric Raymond is working to complete his first two-seat design, Sunseeker Duo, which he expects will be “the highest performing solar airplane ever built and the first to carry passengers,” and he’s seeking grassroots support. Raymond has previously worked on the Solar Impulse project, which aims to fly around the world on […]