Business & Military

Surf Air, which operates an “all you can fly” membership service with its fleet of Pilatus PC-12 turboprops based in northern California, has acquired Rise, a similar operation based in Texas, and its closest competitor. The consolidation brings the total number of weekly flights for Surf Air up to 445, serving 17 destinations. “Today, the […]

Bell Helicopter’s 505 Jet Ranger X is now certified by the FAA, the company has announced. The aircraft, which falls into the short light-single class of helicopters, incorporates “the latest advancements in safety and aviation technology,” according to Bell CEO Mitch Snyder. Customer response from around the world has been “outstanding,” he added, with about […]

The congregation of Hope Missionary Baptist Church, near Lakeland, Florida, was in the middle of the service on Sunday when members heard a sound from above. Within seconds many of the 300 worshippers, including two nurses, were in the parking lot pulling the seriously injured pilot of a Cirrus SR22 out of the aircraft and […]

Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, of Oklahoma, and Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, have introduced a bill they say will streamline funding for general aviation airports. It would also formally enshrine in legislation the building of homebuilt aircraft as an “aeronautical activity” to eliminate any bureaucratic interpretation on doing that work at an airport. The […]

 A corporate flight crew reportedly deadsticked a Hawker Beechcraft 400XP to a safe landing at Buffalo International Airport on Saturday in an incident that would have made international headlines if it had gone any other way. The aircraft was carrying movie star Jennifer Lawrence from her hometown of Louisville to Teterboro. The aircraft took […]

N-numbered routes in France are sort of like our better state roads or U.S.-numbered highways. Some are dual-lane divided, some just two lanes. Like most airports, the one at Tarbes has just such a highway that runs by the southeast perimeter of the airfield. When you tip out of the inevitable roundabout, there it is […]

NASA has winnowed a list of over 18,300 applicants down to twelve astronaut candidates—ASCANs in the NASA terminology. “We look forward to the energy and talent of these astronauts fueling our exciting future of discovery,” said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. “Between expanding the crew on board the space station to conduct more research than […]

You can read about a thing, see a film about a thing or hear someone describe a thing but even if you’ve done all that, the thing itself will never be what you expect when you actually lay your own eyes on it. That’s the feeling I had today after spending most of the day […]

Flexible, twistable wing flaps that may improve flight efficiency were tested by NASA researchers in a recent series of flights. The Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge tests were flown at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, based on knowledge gained from the project’s prior flight tests in 2014 and 2015. “We’re twisting the inboard […]

The aviation community is continuing to respond to the Trump administration’s proposal on Monday to privatize the air traffic control system. FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta released a brief statement, saying he supports “looking at new ways to help us provide stable and sufficient funding to more rapidly modernize our system, while maintaining the highest […]