News

The FAA said this week air traffic controllers must temporarily stop using a procedure that allows airplanes to land and take off in the opposite direction from normal, after a mix-up with three commuter jets in Washington on July 31. However, the procedure was not at fault, according to the FAA, but a communication lapse […]

The crash of a decades-old Bell 414 helicopter in Texas on Tuesday could have an impact on the development of Bell’s latest high-tech helicopter, the 525 Relentless. The 414 is a technology demonstrator for Bell’s Xworx development center in Arlington, Texas, and was apparently testing gear for the Relentless when it went down about 30 […]

Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta was long on optimism but short on specifics in a pointed Q & A session at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The FAA is under congressional order to integrate most UAVs into the national airspace system by 2015 (2014 for UAVs weighing […]

Another 170 workers at Hawker Beechcraft have been told their jobs will gone in 60 days, the Wichita Eagle reported last week. The jobs will be lost from across the ranks at the company’s facility in Little Rock, Ark. “The company continues to evaluate and balance production rates throughout a difficult and rapidly changing environment,” […]

NASA flew a new version of its remotely piloted blended-wing-body test aircraft for the first time, on Tuesday, at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert. The X-48C aircraft is modified from the X-48B, which last flew in 2010. The winglets from the earlier design have been moved inboard from the wingtips, close to […]

A medical helicopter broke a skid in flight when it hit a cellphone tower early Sunday morning, but the crew landed safely at San Antonio International Airport after firefighters built a pile of mattresses to take the place of the missing skid. The Bell 407 helicopter, with three crew and a patient on board, was […]

Legislation known as the “Pilot’s Bill of Rights” was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday. The new law requires the FAA to provide pilots with information about cases that could result in the revocation of their pilot privileges. The change was welcomed by general aviation advocacy groups. “The legislation safeguards the rights […]

Cirrus Aircraft will build “a significant portion” of the composite airframe components for the Icon A5 light sport aircraft, the two companies announced on Monday. Cirrus will add up to 60 jobs over the next 18 months or so to handle the extra work, Cirrus spokesman Todd Simmons told AVweb. “It could be even more,” […]

Colorful New York Sen. Chuck Schumer wants tougher regulations to prevent pilots from seeing red and particularly green lasers in the cockpit. The Democrat says he’s written government regulators asking them to tighten up regulations on the sale of laser devices, which are sold primarily as pointers for people making presentations, usually indoors. There have […]

Click above to see video of Pietsch’s routine at Abbotsford International Air Show in 2011. Veteran airshow performer Kent Pietsch is in a hospital in Alberta, Canada, after crashing his Interstate Cadet shortly after a performance Saturday in Wetaskiwin, a small city about 70 miles south of Edmonton. Pietsch is not thought to have suffered […]