News

Pipistrel announced the first flight of its oddly configured Taurus four-place electric aircraft that it plans to enter into the $1.65 million Green Flight Challenge. The aircraft flew Friday morning at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, where it had remained after the show while myriad issues relating to its FAA approval were sorted out. The […]

Two Marines were plucked out of the Pacific by the Coast Guard at about 2:30 Thursday morning, four hours after ejecting from an F/A-18D 85 miles southwest of San Diego. Both men were listed in stable condition after being delivered to Naval Medical Center San Diego but suffered from injuries that included broken bones and […]

The Aerotrek A240 Light Sport Aircraft is a sleeper offering in the LSA market that may be running under the radar because of its lack of formal marketing infrastructure — it sells mainly by word of mouth. The LSA mall at AirVenture Oshkosh didn’t include Aerotrek in 2011, but the company did have a display […]

An investigation that grounded the fleet of F-22 Raptors back in May “has since expanded to include all aspects of the aircraft,” according to the Air Force Times, leaving deliveries on hold and pilots hoping for simulator time. There are less than 160 Raptors deployed (accounting for roughly $65 billion) and two F-22 simulators — […]

The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle II launched Aug. 11 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, near Lompoc, Calif., with a goal of splashing down nearly 4,900 miles away — and 30 minutes later — near The Marshal Islands, but that didn’t quite work out. The test flight was the product of DARPA funding and Lockheed Martin […]

Airline pilots are seeking to take back wages, benefits, and pension concessions they gave up to save their employers from bankruptcy following the 2001 terrorist attacks, but airlines allege the pilots aren’t playing fair. US Airways filed suit last week because the company believes its pilots have illegally caused as many as 10 flight cancellations […]

The FAA has tweaked its proposal for clarifying how it authorizes maintenance inspectors, and NBAA and AOPA seemed mostly satisfied with the results, although AOPA says it is still concerned about how the new policy (PDF) will be implemented. The proposal issued last November triggered alarm that some inspectors would not meet the new proposed […]

Flying an African safari is on the “bucket list” for many aviators, and next month a group of pilots are flying their own airplanes from the U.S. to circumnavigate Africa on a new 20,000-mile adventure organized by Air Journey. The pilots will meet at the Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec on Sept. 7 for an […]

The FAA has published a new Advisory Circular providing guidance for the approval of new aeronautical fuels. Issuance of the document aims to “facilitate the aviation fuel approval process,” according to the FAA, by “clarifying and describing” acceptable methods of compliance to existing FAA regulations. But unknown to most in the industry who aren’t involved […]

Unionized engineering workers at Spirit AeroSystems voted almost unanimously last month against a nine-and-a-half year contract proposal by the company and the union warned investors on Friday that workers were “on the verge” of a strike. The Wichita Eagle says Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), sent […]