News

The launch customer for Bombardier’s new Learjet 85 is Bombardier. Flexjet, Bombardier’s fractional ownership subsidiary, will get the first seven of the mostly composite bizjet, which is currently under development and on schedule to be available for deliveries in 2013. Flexjet is now booking fractional positions for the new aircraft at rates competitive with those […]

Hawker Beechcraft has become the latest aircraft manufacturer to put a footprint in China. The company announced the establishment of a regional office in Beijing. Hawker Beech and its predecessors have sold aircraft in China for 30 years and six models, from the Bonanza to the Hawker 4000, are certified there. “With the establishment of […]

An Indian company has placed the first major order for the business jet version of Sukhoi’s new Superjet 100 regional airliner. Aviotech Corporate Jet Services signed an a agreement last week to buy 10 of the corporate variants of the 100-seat airliner. The Superjet is being developed jointly by Sukhoi and Italy’s Alenia. Aviotech says […]

The FAA was supposed to publish a final rule addressing pilot rest requirements by Aug. 1, but so far the rule has not been released. The proposed rule was published last September. The FAA told Bloomberg News this week it is “working aggressively” to get the final rule done. ALPA President Lee Moak said the […]

Under a new FAA rule published on Monday, certain aviation safety inspectors who work for the agency must wait two years before they can be offered a job from air carriers and other certificate holders. “The flying public can rest assured that our aviation safety inspectors will remain focused on protecting the flying public without […]

A pilot for Platinum Jet, the now-defunct charter company whose illegal practices came to light after a crash at Teterboro Airport in 2005, has been sentenced to six months in prison. Francis Vieira, 61, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded guilty to fraud. In addition to the prison term, he will serve six months of home […]

Military pilots need lots of skills besides just flying the airplane — for example, if shot down in enemy territory, it’s handy to be ready to shoot, run over obstacles, swim, and find your way with a map and compass — and the aeronautical pentathlon, which was held last month in Brazil, tests all of […]

The FAA has formed a new Aviation Rulemaking Committee to overhaul the old Part 23 rules that govern the manufacture of most light aircraft, a move welcomed this week by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. “The increasing cost of certification and manufacturing oversight … has led to a lack of cost-effective, entry-level products which attract […]

With the shuttle era over, memories of the amazing accomplishments of the program, and its terrible tragedies, are the stuff of history books, but enterprising NASA technicians have created a digital tribute to the venerable spacecraft. Just before they decommissioned Discovery to send it to the Udvar Hazy Center of the Smithsonian in Washington, NASA […]

The NTSB says air traffic controllers who vectored a Southwest Boeing 737 to a close-quarters intercept of a NORDO Cirrus in Florida last March invoked a section of the FAA orders (PDF) that compels them to take extraordinary action if the situation warrants. The intercept made headlines and there were at least short-term consequences for […]