News

Rolls-Royce Trent 800-series engines can suffer from ice-induced fuel constriction in flight, and in the opinion of the NTSB, current precautions are “insufficient” to prevent the possibility of a fatal crash — and they’ll be flying like that for at least six more months. So why not just add an anti-icing additive to the fuel? […]

Cessna has announced it will delay development of its Citation Columbus — the jet CEO Jack Pelton in October said “will create a billion dollars of revenue annually” — and that more furloughs are coming. The company is investing $780 million in development of the 488-kt. luxury business jet, that can carry eight people 4,000 […]

The Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over the TSA, thinks the TSA’s Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) should not go forward without industry input. The Chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (Mississippi), submitted a letter to the TSA stating his opinion that LASP, as proposed appears “unfeasible, or overly burdensome […]

The DOT may not be able to fund aviation programs at levels previously assumed because of declines in actual revenues generated by the excise taxes that fund the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). In the report released last week the GAO says that going forward, the forecasts of […]

Sometimes it’s hard to be a hero, especially when the person being rescued has other ideas. That didn’t stop Ruedi Hafen, owner of Niagara Helicopters, from saving the life of an unidentified 30-year-old Ontario man who went over Niagara Falls without a barrel. He became only the third person known to have survive the plunge […]

If you own a glass cockpit aircraft, Aviation Consumer wants to hear from you. We want to know about the real costs of maintaining and upgrading these aircraft for an upcoming article. Please take a moment to fill out a short survey so others can benefit from your experiences. Click here to participate. (The results […]

Did the U.S. Department of Justice nix Lycoming’s bid to buy the assets of bankrupt Superior Air Parts? Sources in the engine business tell us this may be the case. Several have been contacted by Department of Justice investigators looking into the details of Lycoming’s bid to buy Superior, which filed for bankruptcy in early […]

Many passengers ignore the safety briefing when flying commercial, convinced that the only useful action to take in the event of an emergency is to call your loved ones (flagrantly disobeying the no-cellphone rule) and say goodbye. But a series of recent crashes — the ditching in the Hudson and the Turkish Airlines accident in […]

United Technologies, the parent company of Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky, said this week it will eliminate 11,600 jobs worldwide, or about 5 percent of its workforce. “The outlook for commercial aerospace and global construction markets has continued to deteriorate since UTC’s December investor meeting and the economic recovery previously anticipated in the second half […]

“A calm voice on the radio keeps a scared pilot from becoming further rattled.” So noted Mark Harris, an air traffic controller with the Anchorage TRACON, as he recalled a day last October when he helped a pilot cope with a cockpit full of smoke. Harris was one of 11 controllers honored last week with […]