News

Jonathan Trappe, who has flown his unusual lighter-than-air system over Lake Michigan (launching from Oshkosh) and across the English Channel, is now planning to attempt a trans-Atlantic flight next summer. This Friday, in Leon, Mexico, he plans to test-fly the seven-foot-long lifeboat that will hang suspended as a gondola beneath 365 helium balloons. Trappe has […]

Three Civil Air Patrol members on their way to an FAA safety seminar took off from Hawkins Field Airport in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday afternoon in a Piper PA-32, and moments later all three died when the airplane crashed into a house and caught fire. Killed in the crash were Col. John E. Tilton Jr., […]

Cessna and China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company, Ltd. (CAIGA) have finalized a deal to assemble Citation XLS+ business jets in China. The deal, which was announced as a strategic partnership earlier this year with CAIGA parent AVIC involving the assembly and sale of Caravans in China, will involve subassembly and parts production in Wichita […]

The popular SeaRey kit-built LSA amphib will soon be available as a factory-built aircraft. Progressive Aerodyne, of Tavares, Fla., announced last week that it has FAA approval to manufacture an S-LSA version of the aircraft. The company expects to deliver the first fly-away SeaRey early next year. SeaRey kits have been available for 20 years […]

The European Union has delayed implementation of its controversial airline carbon tax to 2014, citing progress on a global carbon emission effort by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). However, the U.S. House of Representatives increased the pressure against the EU’s plan with passage of a bill that will make it illegal for U.S. airlines […]

A small town in Lancashire unveiled a memorial to the Supermarine Spitfire over the weekend, to commemorate a fundraising effort during World War II when residents donated about $8,000 to buy an airplane for the Royal Air Force. The stainless-steel sculpture features a one-twelfth-size Spitfire with a wingspan of about 12 feet. It flies at […]

A reborn Eastern Air Lines plans to be the first U.S. airline to fly Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC)’s C919. In a surprise announcement at the China Airshow in Zhuhai Tuesday, Jack Shi, senior vice president for commercial development of Eastern Air Lines, told a news conference that revival of the aviation icon has […]

It was November 2001 when an Airbus A300 operated by American Airlines crashed in New York after losing its rudder and vertical stabilizer in flight, killing 265 people, and on Friday, the FAA issued its final rule to address the problem. The FAA revised its proposed rule, which would have required a change to the […]

The ninth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition opened in Zhuhai on Tuesday, as the country continues to work toward opening its airspace to private fliers by 2020. GE said the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. has selected GE’s new H85 turboprop engine to power the Primus 150, a six-seat, pressurized single-engine airplane with […]

Some airline executives are saying a combination of retirements, airline expansion, and an imminent change in FAA rules that could set a minimum of 1,500 hours for first officers will create a pilot shortage, but CBS news analyst Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger said the airlines are employing “scare tactics.” In a story in Sunday’s Wall Street […]