News

The FAA’s flight plan processing automation failed on Thursday morning, causing widespread flight delays and cancellations nationwide. It’s the second time in 15 months that a widespread outage has degraded the agency’s ATC automation, forcing controllers to enter flight data into ARTCC processing systems by hand. FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto told the Wall Street Journal […]

The crew, a medical team, the patient and the patient’s spouse aboard a medical evacuation flight from Samoa to Australia were uninjured after the Pel-Air Westwind jet ditched in the open ocean in weather that prompted the pilot to ditch rather than trying for the airport at Norfolk Island. In a news release Pel-Air Chairman […]

photo by Ralph Pettersen There’s no more dangerous type of word in journalism than the superlative and since aviation is full of the biggest, fastest, oldest, and coolest things on the planet you’d think we’d know better. Our inbox filled Tuesday with readers pointing out that Buffalo Airways does not operate the last C-46 Commandos […]

Owners of older Mooneys now have a new option when it’s time for an engine overhaul. Lycoming recently received the FAA OK to replace the original IO-360 Lycoming engine in Mooney M20E, M20F and M20J models with a new or remanufactured IO-390-A3A6 engine. The engine provides more horsepower as well as improved climb and cruise […]

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week hosted the first meeting of a new advisory committee on the future of the country’s aviation industry. “This is not going to be just another advisory committee,” LaHood said in his blog post. “I am not commissioning some report to fill space on my bookshelf. This committee will […]

US Airways Capt. Chesley Sullenberger said the new book Fly By Wire, by William Langewiesche, “greatly overstates how much it mattered” that the Airbus A320 he ditched in the Hudson had some automated systems, according to The New York Times. Sullenberger told the Times, “There are some situations where the automation will protect a pilot, […]

Embraer and General Electric will flight-test a renewable jet fuel by early 2012, the companies said on Wednesday. They plan to use a renewable biofuel made from sugar cane, developed by Amyris Biotechnologies, which is based in California and operates a subsidiary in Brazil. The test will be flown using a jet owned and operated […]

Click for a larger image When the 2010 Winter Olympics launch in Vancouver next February, associated flight restrictions, termed by locals as the Olympic Rings, will keep many local GA operators grounded for up to eight weeks, with losses of up to $5 million, CanWest News reported on Tuesday. “We don’t dispute the fact there […]

The Transportation Security Administration has prepared new regulations governing security procedures at repair stations. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (PDF) will require repair stations to establish security protocols to guard against unauthorized access to the facility, aircraft and parts. The new rules would affect 4,227 FAA-certificated shops in the U.S. and 694 in other […]

Cessna rolled out the first production CJ4 Monday, keeping a schedule that will see certification and first deliveries of the aircraft by early 2010. The CJ4 is Cessna’s first new design in several years and incorporates FADEC-equipped Williams FJ44-4A engines, a Collins Pro Line 21 four-screen panel, ADS-B out and all sorts of electronic conveniences. […]