Business & Military

The Senate today approved a new FAA funding bill that is widely supported by GA advocates. NBAA President Ed Bolen said the new bill provides “a smart, targeted approach to funding the FAA’s efforts to modernize what is already the world’s safest air-traffic control system.” GAMA President Pete Bunce also said he was “extremely pleased” […]

The Martin Mars water bomber, the largest airplane of its kind and the last in its line, will make its first-ever appearance at EAA AirVenture in July, EAA has announced. The bomber will be based at the EAA Seaplane Base, on Lake Winnebago. With a wingspan of about 200 feet, and measuring 120 feet nose […]

The captain of aBritish AirwaysAirbus A320 flying into London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon told authorities he believed the front of the airplane was hit by a drone on approach. The airplane landed safely and it was examined carefully by engineers. It hasn’t been reported what damage they found, if any, but they cleared the […]

Environmental groups have filed suit (PDF) against the EPA to try and force the agency to set emissions limits for all aircraft. The suit was filed by Earthjustice (on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity) and Friends of the Earth on Thursday, saying the EPA has “delayed unreasonably” coming up with rules for aircraft […]

The crew members of a FedEx A310 were surprised at a knock on the cockpit door as they prepared for arrival in Lubbock, Texas, on Friday since they were supposed to be the only ones on the plane. Flight 1459 took off from Memphis on its regular run to the Lubbock and there should have […]

The family of a well-known movie pilot who died in a crash of a Piper Aerostar in Colombia last September is suing a movie studio. Alan Purwin, 54, was a passenger in the aircraft flown by Colombian Carlos Berl on the flight, which occurred just after production of the Tom Cruise thriller Mena wrapped up […]

Three aerospace teams will compete for a military contract to further develop their ideas for a reusable unmanned spaceplane that can make daily flights over a ten-day period. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced this week it will hold a publicProposers Day on April 29 to discuss the second and third phases of its […]

After a nine-month hiatus in Hawaii, Solar Impulse 2 is ready to resume its around-the-world flight. The crew will look for favorable conditions this month so the single-seat aircraft can launch from Oahu for North America, where landing options include Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Phoenix. From there, the aircraft will continue eastward and […]

I have always been baffled by the psychology of paying a company a tidy of sum of money to assure that I get one of the first new-and-improved widgets it proposes to make: the pre-production deposit or, as it’s popularly known, a “position.” This is quite common in the aircraft business as most recently demonstrated […]

External Tank 94, a 69,000-pound artifact from NASA’s space shuttle program, is en route to a permanent home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The tank, which was one of 138 built at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is the last of its kind. ET-94 left its storage site there this […]