Business & Military

The first airplane some new Air Force pilots will fly might be a Pipistrel Alpha trainer. The first cohort of 20 potential pilots, all of them either about to become USAF officers or freshly commissioned, completed a course that led to 17 them soloing the light sport aircraft. The new program, called the Aviation-Character-Education (ACE) […]

All flights at London Gatwick Airport (LGW) were suspended after problems arose with the airport’s air traffic control systems on Wednesday. It has been reported that the issue stemmed from tower computer systems. A total of 26 flights were diverted during the two-hour outage, with an estimated 95 flights cancelled and 298 delayed. The system […]

Rolls-Royce is working on an initiative to strengthen its hybrid electric power and propulsion research and development activities in Brandenburg, Germany, according to a company announcement on Monday. The company says the proposal will build on an established Rolls-Royce partnership with the Brandenburg Technical University (BTU) along with potentially including participation from small and medium-sized […]

Safran has announced plans to build a new production facility for aircraft carbon brakes in Feyzin, France. The company says the plant will incorporate a range of “Factory 4.0” technologies developed by Safran, which it expects to result in reduced energy and water consumption and increased use of renewable energy. Safran anticipates adding up to […]

A new issue with the Boeing 737 MAX autopilot has emerged in the European Aviation Safety Agency’s bottom-line position on returning the airliner to service. Bloomberg, citing an unnamed source, is reporting EASA listed five major issues that need resolution and four of those have been widely discussed publicly. But the European regulator has also […]

The International Civil Aviation Organization will hold meetings in Montreal next week to review pilot licensing requirements. ICAO officials said the meeting was organized to review whether current training standards are relevant for pilots of modern highly automated airliners. “Recently, with current events, people are discussing whether the minimum requirements or experience are still valid, […]

A spokesman for the union that represents some of the workers who build Boeing airplanes claims the company’s shift to a “cost-cutting” corporate culture has isolated employees, alienated suppliers and customers and ultimately underlies the problems it’s having with its current airplanes, including the 737 MAX. Stan Sorscher, of the Society for Professional Engineering Employees […]

Virgin Atlantic Flight 138 was forced to make an emergency landing at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) due to a fire in the cabin on Thursday night. The flight crew was able to extinguish the fire, which started at a passenger’s seat. No injuries were reported among the flight crew and 217 passengers on board […]

The U.S. Navy has announced a $29.7 million contract with United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (U.K. MOD) for a C-130J Super Hercules to serve as the Blue Angels Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron’s next “Fat Albert” logistics cargo plane. According to the U.S. Navy, acquiring a used aircraft to fill the role was approximately $50 million […]

Gulfstream has announced that its G600 business jet received both its type and production certificates from the FAA last week. Gulfstream highlighted that the G600 is its third model to get its type and production certificates simultaneously after the G550 in 2003 and the G500 in 2018. G600 deliveries are expected to begin later this […]