News

The brain trust at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may be getting a $175,000 lesson in the dangers of lithium ion batteries for a 2009 incident that could have had tragic consequences. Someone at the school packed 33 circuit boards, each attached to a lithium battery, into a cardboard box and had FedEx pick […]

The second midair collision in Alaska in as many months is believed to have killed a young commercial pilot while another managed to land her badly damaged aircraft safely. The Anchorage Daily News reports 24-year-old Scott Veal, of Kenai, is presumed dead after the Grant Aviation Cessna Caravan he was flying was in a collision […]

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have issued a joint bulletin to law enforcement and transportation agencies warning al-Qaida may be hatching a plot to use GA aircraft filled with explosives in attacks on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The agencies, who, according to Politico, are describing the bulletin as “routine,” say the terror […]

Diamond Aircraft has resumed flight testing of its D-JET personal jet after a five-month break. Diamond suspended testing in late March when it ran out of money to continue the project. It took until early June to secure new financing, including a well-publicized spat with the Canadian government over a federal loan that was ultimately […]

The widely used “block” method (boarding an airliner in sections) is among the slowest of methods, while the windows-first method (which we told you about in 2008) has again been proven best … but carriers still aren’t using it. Astrophysicist Jason Steffen’s scientifically deduced suggestion (PDF) for the most efficient method of herding people onto […]

John Hoyte flew for 30 years and says chronic fatigue and memory loss caused by toxins circulated in the air systems of the aircraft he flew forced him to walk away at the age of 49. Now 55, Hoyte wants to lobby the government to force airlines to recognize a link between toxic fumes on […]

New light fell on the U.S. government’s rendition program as aviation companies battled in court over fees paid by the government for the service. According to court testimony from an aircraft broker that made jets available, the government was looking for “the cheapest aircraft to fulfill a mission.” Those who catered to the government’s needs […]

Matternet is a plan to use aviation technology to keep people alive and help them thrive when economic or geographic challenges keep them isolated from streams of commerce and aid, and traditional aviation isn’t the answer. Matternet‘s long-term vision of creating an autonomous transportation network for point-to-point delivery of people and cargo must wait on […]

If Congress fails to act (again) by Sept. 16, the FAA will see another expiration of short-term funding and potentially another round of layoffs. In July, Congress failed to reach an agreement on funding for the FAA before heading for a five-week recess. That caused a temporary limited shutdown of the FAA that led to […]

Two men have been charged with residential burglary and theft of property after being spotted by a homeowner who saw the men taking items from his house while he was flying as a first-time passenger in a 1957 Cessna 172. The flight was daytime VFR out and back from Arkansas to Memphis. On the return […]