News

The FAA is considering making some major changes in the way special light sport aircraft are approved, Dan Johnson, chairman of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, said on Wednesday. FAA officials told LAMA that in the future, LSA manufacturers may have to pass a compliance audit conducted by a specially trained cadre of FAA inspectors. […]

It’s been three years since International Lease Finance Corp., ordered a new aircraft and it’s now poised to dip its toe in the water again. In fact, the company may make a splash with an order for 10 Airbus A380 aircraft. ILFC’s new CEO Henri Courpron told Bloomberg there are no plans to sell off […]

Business consulting firm AlixPartners predicts consolidation in the corporate aircraft sector as prolonged slow growth becomes the “new normal” in the aerospace sector in general and the bizjet market in particular. The firm released a study on the industry’s outlook on Tuesday and says the future looks especially hard for business aircraft makers. “Business jets […]

Cessna and Bell Helicopters will introduce new models and upgrades of existing aircraft as early as 2012 as parent company Textron boosts investment in the two companies to coincide with an expected industry turnaround next year. In an interview with Bloomberg, Textron CEO Scott Donnelly said work is already under way on the recovery plans. […]

Colton Harris-Moore, a 19-year-old accused of stealing several airplanes since leaving a group home near Seattle in 2008, is now suspected in the theft of a Cessna Corvalis that went missing from its locked hangar in Indiana and showed up in the Bahamas on Sunday, more than 1,000 miles away. The airplane was ditched in […]

Lancair International, of Redmond, Ore., on Tuesday announced new ownership, new leadership, and an infusion of new operating capital for the company. Gene Wolstenholme is now majority owner and chairman, and his son Robert Wolstenholme, who built and flies his own Lancair IVP, was named presidentand CEO. The company now will focus on the owner-built […]

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have both submitted designs to NASA depicting their ideas about the supersonic transport of the future. Boeing’s team recommended a fixed-wing configuration with a V-tail and engines above the wing. The airplane could carry 120 passengers and cruise at Mach 1.8 with a range of about 5,000 nautical miles. Boeing’s study […]

Several changes to operations in the Special Flight Rules Area that affects Washington, D.C., airspace will become effective Sept. 1, the FAA said recently. The most significant change will affect pilots flying VFR who lose radio contact with controllers after departing from an airport located within the SFRA (which extends in a circle extending 30 […]

A California company says it has teamed up with Ukrainian aircraft builder Antonov to launch a bid for the multibillion-dollar contract to supply 179 tanker aircraft to the U.S. Air Force. In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Aerospace says it can provide a better tanker for a lower price than either […]

Click for larger image July 17, 2009, an Ilyushin IL-78 tanker jet stopped at Sawyer International Airport, Mich., while en route out of Texas for Europe, beginning a complicated web of legal wranglings that have left the big jet sitting there ever since. The crew that flew the jet to Michigan was, shortly after their […]