News

Mooney Aviation Company began a company-wide “draw down” Friday that will see its staff cut from 53 positions to “less than 10” by Jan. 1; the company says it is not shutting down and its aircraft will be supported. AVweb spoke with Mooney’s Susan Harrison Friday, who confirmed the details. The layoffs will be staggered […]

As the Transportation Security Administration’s deployment of backscatter X-ray machines at airports draws increasing public resistance, four University of California researchers say the ionizing radiation used in these devices pose serious health concerns. In early April of 2010, the researchers-all medical and biology specialists- wrote the White House’s science and technology assistant, John Holdren, expressing […]

Snoring was picked up by the cockpit voice recorders of an Air India Express 737-800 not long before it ran off the runway at Mangalore Airport in May, killing 158 of 164 aboard, according to a Court of Inquiry probe. The flight’s captain had more than 10,200 hours and reportedly slept for much of the […]

The FAA proposed a rule Thursday that would put your picture on your pilot certificate and (for most pilots) will remove the current requirement to also carry another photo ID; it extends to students and it will cost you something. The agency has the authority to charge a maximum fee of $22 for renewals and […]

Wednesday, news broke that Congressman John Mica had on Nov. 5 sent a letter to more than 150 airport managers suggesting they adopt private security — but that would not remove the TSA from the equation. Mica appears headed to chair the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Thanks to an older law he helped write, […]

The wreckage of an F-22 lost Tuesday may have been found 100 miles north of Anchorage, but as of Wednesday evening the Air Force could not account for its pilot. The missing aircraft was part of the 3rd Wing at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. A report from the Wing’s public affairs office Wednesday evening said […]

Researchers from Harvard University have developed and tested specific, patterned, nanostructured materials that reject supercooled water droplets before that water can freeze to a surface. When supercooled droplets hit smooth surfaces, the researchers found they spread out and freeze. That was not the case when the Harvard team applied the same tests to nanostructures created […]

China’s low-altitude airspace will open up for civilian use over the next five years, the State Council and the Central Military Commission announced this week. “This is the beginning of a new chapter in China’s general aviation development,” Martin Lin, China president of Textron, told the Financial Times. The new rules will allow aircraft flying […]

A new rule adopted by the FAA this week stops short of requiring “life limits” for transport-category aircraft, but in practice that may be the result. The rule requires manufacturers to set a “limit of validity,” the number of flight cycles or hours that an airplane can operate before it must be subjected to additional […]

Boeing says it can’t say when it might resume flight testing of the 787 Dreamliner after an onboard fire forced an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas, last week. The company has received ferry permits from the FAA to fly two 787s back to Seattle, one from Victorville, Calif., and the other from Rapid City, S.D. […]