News

The nine crew members aboard a Royal Canadian Air Force C-130 Hercules modified as a tanker escaped unharmed after an in-flight fire at NAS Key West last week. Photos obtained by Canadian Aviator magazine suggest the outcome could have been a lot different. The RCAF hasn’t said what caused the fire to put a big […]

Newark’s Liberty Airport was shut down entirely for an hour on Monday and operated with one of three runways closed for the balance of the day after a United Express Embraer E-series regional jet made an emergency landing with nose gear problems. Images show the aircraft resting on sheet metal where the front wheels are […]

The FAA said on Monday it wants to substantially raise the qualification requirements for first officers who fly for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines.The proposed rule, which the FAA said complies with a law passed in 2010, would require first officers flying in Part 121 operations to hold an ATP certificate, which requires 1,500 hours […]

The FAA hasn’t done enough to address fatigue problems with Engine Components Inc. (ECi) cylinder assemblies in some general aviation aircraft with TCM engines, the NTSB said (PDF) on Monday. Several airworthiness directives were issued to deal with ECi problems between 2000 and 2009. However, the NTSB said ECi has shown that at least eight […]

Canada is hosting a meeting of fellow partners in the development of the F-35 in Washington next week to discuss the mounting problems with the jet. Senior government officials from Britain, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Turkey and Australia will meet at the Canadian Embassy in Washington for two days of talks about the aircraft program. […]

While many of us view airline travel as a necessary evil, there are some people who actually like it and even consider it a hobby. A planeload of them gathered for a semi-regular event for passionate frequent fliers last week in which they flew around the U.S. in their own airliner and got to go […]

The pilot of Solar Impulse spent 72 hours pretending to fly an electric airplane around the world last week and it appears human frailties can be accommodated through good management during the real event. Andre Borschberg was in a faithful mockup of the cabin of the aircraft that will make the circumnavigation attempt and after […]

click for photos The F-16 that ran off the end of Runway 36 at Wittman Regional Airport after landing during the 2011 EAA Oshkosh AirVenture gathering did so because the cockpit got foggy, according to the Air Force. The Air Force accident investigation board report says that the jet’s environmental control system caused extreme fogging […]

AOPA and EAA are expected to advance their own petition, soon, but an earlier submission from Potomac Airfield’s David Wartofsky has received an official FAA response: denied. Wartofsky’s petition was posted as a public docket and generated more than 1000 comments. The petition sought to allow pilots flying aircraft under 6,000 pounds max gross weight […]

Errors attributed to air traffic controllers have dramatically risen in recent years and a report due soon is expected to show they’ve remained relatively unchanged from 2010 to 2011, but what that means could be complicated. According to the FAA and the controllers union (NATCA), much of the increase could be the result of changes […]