News

Check out AVweb reader Jean-Pierre Bonin’s gallery of photos from the ceremony on Flickr. We’re not sure, but this might be the first “last flight” of an aircraft type that helped usher in the modern jet age of airliners. The last flying Boeing 720 took off from Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada for its presumably long-term stay […]

The first three months of 2012 saw total billings for aircraft fall 8 percent, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), but piston-powered airplane shipments dropped by a smaller margin. Piston aircraft shipments totaled 184 units for the first three months of 2012, versus 188 shipments over the same period last year. The figures […]

The U.S. Navy’s participation in a 22-nation exercise this summer will include a two-day demonstration of the “Great Green Fleet” carrier strike group, operating in part on alternative non-fossil fuels. The demonstration group will operate aircraft and non-carrier ships on 50/50 blends of biofuel and conventional fuels. The Navy has set a goal of 2020 […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to download the video directly. A judge has dismissed drunk-driving charges against former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, ruling the Fairfax, Va., police didn’t have a good enough reason to pull him over. Although a police statement after his […]

The Lindbergh Foundation marks its 35th anniversary on Friday, May 18, with a gala event at the Explorers Club in New York, featuring special guest speakers Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Gene Cernan, and airshow legend Bob Hoover. “I can’t think of a more compelling roster of speakers to help us celebrate our […]

Denny Fitch, the off-duty United Airlines DC-10 instructor who worked the throttles in the crash landing of Flight 232 at Sioux City, Iowa, on July 19, 1989, died of brain cancer on May 7. Fitch, along with 184 others, survived in a legendary feat of airmanship credited with initiating the now-standard concept of crew resource […]

Volunteer pilots flying for Patient AirLift Services (PALS) may now be partially reimbursed for fuel costs related to charitable flights, PALS recently announced. The program is FAA-approved and it means that “pilots can receive reimbursement for fuel costs incurred when flying patients in need of medical treatment during charitable missions.” That change is the result […]

Formerly known as the Air Transport Association of America, the trade group Airlines for America has asked the FAA to postpone a requirement to equip passenger jets with kits designed to keep them from exploding. According to the group, the need for a delay can be traced back to the FAA. A 2008 FAA regulation […]

Marine scientists in Belize conducted a count of offshore marine animals for the first time recently, thanks to help from volunteer pilots flying with LightHawk. Government fisheries staff have surveyed marine mammals along the shore for 18 years, but in April, they were able to extend those efforts up to 50 miles off the coast. […]

An Indonesian helicopter rescue crew found the shattered wreckage of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 scattered over the side of a mountain early Thursday and there appear to be no survivors. The aircraft, Russia’s newest passenger jet, was carrying 44 passengers on a demo flight out of Jakarta, Indonesia, when it vanished from radar Wednesday morning […]