News

Helicopters are ideal for lots of useful tasks, but speed over the ground has never been their strong suit, with a world speed record of only about 220 knots. That could change if a new Russian design in development lives up to its promise — an official at a technical conference last month revealed plans […]

In its third-quarter shipment report, GAMA has found the overall delivery of airplanes and rotorcraft increased in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2017. “This is one of those few times since the great recession that we have seen all segments up in shipment numbers,” said GAMA President […]

JETcopter, a startup company based in Germany, said this week it has completed tests that confirmed the feasibility of its concept to power its seven-seat VTOL design with two 400-HP automotive engines that will drive two counter-rotating fans on top of the carbon-fiber fuselage. The company said it will bring a full-scale mock-up of the […]

A couple of third-place victories were recorded by U.S. pilots in the season finale of the Red Bull Air Race series Sunday in Fort Worth. Michael Goulian earned the third spot overall among the 14 Master Class pilots on the season while Kirby Chambliss was third in the Fort Worth race. He ended up in […]

The massive runway at the Kennedy Space Center that was the primary landing site for the Space Shuttle could again be used for privately operated space missions. The FAA has released a “Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision” on the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Cape. The facility encompasses 4,432 […]

Possibly the country’s only “clothing optional” airstrip is about to be officially recognized by the National Parks Service (NPS), and the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) is urging members to let the NPS know they support the initiative. The Saline Valley Warm Springs Airfield, better known as the Chicken Strip, is located adjacent to an abundant […]

A well-known Texas pilot who gave numerous rides to veterans in his P-51 “Pecos Bill” was killed along with a passenger when the warbird crashed into an apartment building parking lot in Fredericksburg, Texas, on Saturday. Cowden Ward Jr. and the unidentified passenger, believed to be a Second World War B-17 pilot, were taking part […]

As Boeing pushed to provide airlines with more information on a background auto trim system on its 737 MAX, the head of one pilot union said it’s not necessary for pilots to know the details of every automatic system on an airliner and that they’re already adequately trained to handle runaway trim abnormals. The auto […]

Following the Lion Air crash in Indonesia last month, the FAA is focusing new scrutiny on the control architecture of the Boeing 737 MAX and may require the company to engineer a fix for an auto trim system installed on the airplane. The system wasn’t well documented and reporting has revealed that pilots and airlines […]

An FAA certification official said on Wednesday that Boeing 737 engine inlets might require design changes in the wake of a Southwest Airlines accident last April in which an uncontained engine failure breached the cabin and caused the death of a passenger. Testifying at an NTSB fact-finding hearing on the accident, another FAA official said […]