News

Lloyd McKee and his wife Maureen survived when their aircraft (identified by the FAA as a Piper PA-32R but also by friends as a Beechcraft) crashed through the wall of a fitness club located in Naperville, a suburb of Chicago, Wednesday at noon. The crash aircraft is reportedly not directly registered to either McKee, but […]

Those who might have thought they were fractional owners of aircraft managed by OurPLANE are finding out, the hard way, that they are now little more than creditors in the bankruptcy of the company. Although it was apparently billed as a fractional, instead, OurPLANE maintained sole ownership of the planes (mostly Cirrus SR22s) and entered […]

Researchers at Stanford have created a fine mesh of sensors they say could wrap around an aircraft to provide nerve-like sensory information about the aircraft’s structural integrity, skin temperature and even map air pressure. The material can expand up to 265 times its original size while still remaining strong and durable, according to scientists. That […]

“Uncommanded changes” to radio frequencies, altitudes and transponder codes by the electronic flight information systems in some Eclipse jets have been reported, the FAA says, and an Airworthiness Directive issued this week mandates upgrades to the system. The AD affects approximately 168 aircraft in the fleet, the FAA said, and depending what kind of system […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to download the video directly. The Maverick “flying car” has received ASTM approval as a Special Light Sport Aircraft, the company said this week. I-tec, based in Orlando, Fla., has been working on the vehicle for about six […]

FAA guidelines that require ADS-B equipment to be installed under the supplemental type certificate (STC) process will derail efforts to provide low-cost solutions for general aviation aircraft, the Aircraft Electronics Association said this week. The FAA policy, stated in a memo (PDF) sent out on Aug. 30, would “stall early equipage, delay early implementation, and, […]

Master Instructors LLC owners Sandy and JoAnn Hill say they’ve agreed to abandon their copyright lawsuit against the National Association of Flight Instructors “in exchange for a waiver of fees and costs.” NAFI has confirmed it has accepted the Hills’ offer and will continue to use the material in dispute. “NAFI will continue to grow […]

AOPA says a new regime of rules proposed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “has potentially devastating implications for the U.S. general aviation manufacturers and for the U.S. flight training industry.” EASA intends to adopt a wide-ranging series of amendments to rules that appear to particularly affect those holding U.S. pilot certificates and aircraft […]

The last operational flight of a Boeing 720 took place in Canada on Sept. 29. The aircraft, the engine test bed for Pratt & Whitney Canada, flew for four hours with a turboprop mounted on the nose. At the end of the flight, its airframe time was up. It will make one last flight, either […]

OurPLANE, one of the pioneer companies in fractional ownership of GA and very light jet aircraft, filed for bankruptcy last week, the victim, it said, of the poor economy. In an e-mail to one of the last participants in the once-ambitious program, company CEO Graham Casson said the company tried to make a go of […]