Business & Military

The U.S. Air Force is now short 2,000 pilots, said Heather Wilson, Secretary of the Air Force, at the Pentagon’s annual State of the Air Force presentation Thursday. The Air Force had previously reported being short-staffed by 1,500 pilots, but said the number would grow due to an inability to train new pilots at the […]

Embraer has paused the flight test program on its KC-390 medium-lift, multi-mission aircraft after an unplanned upset in early October, said the company in a statement. The twin-jet was performing tests on its slow flight characteristics with simulated ice formation at 20,000 feet, according to the company. In attempting to recover to cruise flight, Flightradar24 […]

A restored C-97G Stratofreighter, owned by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation, made its first flight in more than 15 years on Tuesday. The aircraft was restored by the foundation at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn. On its first flight, the crew flew the aircraft to Ocean County Airport in New Jersey and back. The aircraft […]

In our never-ending quest to serve our readers and advertisers better, we sometimes hit a technological brick wall and this is one of those times. We’re trying to improve the user experience for the thousands of subscribers who view AVweb on smartphones but we can’t get it to work the way we want it to […]

Uber has signed a deal with NASA to develop software for the air taxi it plans to have in service within five years. At a web conference in Lisbon on Wednesday, Uber’s Jeff Holden said the company is teaming with NASA to develop a range of technologies designed to track and de-conflict its human-carrying quadcopters […]

Sooner or later, Icon was going to get tested and the test came this week, probably sooner than any of us might have expected. The fatal crash of an Icon A5 owned by retired baseball star Roy Halladay dwelled above the fold on some newscasts and websites. It’s a big deal in the sports world […]

Boeing’s 747, the iconic humped two-decker jet, flew its last flight for United Airlines on Tuesday. The four-engine widebody has lost ground to more-efficient modern aircraft. A United Airlines crew flew the final trip, from San Francisco to Honolulu, tracing the same route as the first United 747 flight in 1970. “From a 1970s-inspired menu […]

The Air Force, in a press release, says it has deployed drone defenses at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. “Our mission is to ensure the safety and security of resources and personnel on base and this is just one method of keeping pace with an ever-evolving threat,” says Lt. Col. William Smith, commander of Offutt’s […]

After stopping production more than 20 years ago, Aero Vodochody is preparing to bring an updated version of the L-39 Albatros jet trainer back to the market. In the L-39NG, a William FJ44-4M will replace the Ivchenko AI-25 found in the original. The new model will also come with a lighter airframe, wet wings and […]

Air traffic control privatization could trigger government paralysis as the extra $100 billion it costs ripples through the programs that money is needed to fund, according to EAA. The organization cites a memo issued by the Congressional Research Service, which says that because of the dent in the budget caused by privatization “a sequester would […]