Business & Military

Virgin Galactic’s plans to take small commercial satellites into space took on a new twist this week — on-demand flights via an airliner that would serve as mothership for launching its new space vehicle, LauncherOne.During a ceremony in Texas, Virgin founder Richard Branson unveiled “Cosmic Girl,” a Boeing 747 transferred from his Virgin Atlantic airline. […]

AVweb’s search of news in aviation found a new patent for Aspen Avionics, AOPA’s updated flying club features, a call for NATA award nominations, and the first delivery of Airbus’ U.S.-made H125 helicopter. Aspen Avionics announced it has been awarded a U.S. patent for its groundbreaking Connected Panel wireless cockpit system. The patent, first applied […]

Boeing’s last C-17 flew away from the factory at the Long Beach airport this week, marking the end of the transport plane’s production in California. The C-17, built in Long Beach since 1991, was the final series of aircraft made there. The plant was one of the last living pieces of the enormous manufacturing operation […]

Ho-hum, another month, another accident in which the aviation industry can get its pants snagged on the notion that cockpit automation is turning us all into numbskull idiots with hands of stone. But what if the pilot is already well on his way to being a numbskull? Does the automation push him over the edge […]

General aviation advocates have spoken out against privatizing air traffic control, citing concerns over user fees, but this week airline officials said they think ATC would work better as a not-for-profit corporation with stable funding sources. Executives from a half-dozen major airlines, including American, Southwest and FedEx, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that […]

After more than 18 years in development, Honda Aircraft is expected to announce that its small twin-engine jet is certified Dec. 9. The company has sent invitations to aviation media to attend a “special event” at its Greensboro, N.C., plant. At the recent National Business Aviation Association convention, Honda announced that certification was imminent and […]

Amazon took advantage of Cyber Monday to announce the latest details about its planned drone delivery system, releasing two new videos and a Q&A that aims to convince consumers that the concept is not “science fiction.” One day, says Amazon, “seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road.” […]

China’s first indigenous commercial airliner is now in revenue service with domestic budget carrier Chengdu Airlines. The ARJ21 was delivered Sunday. The aircraft is a 90-passenger version of the MD-80, which McDonnell Douglas intended to build in China in the 1990s. The ARJ21 is built by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC)using tooling left […]

The U.S. Patent Office has accepted Airbus’ design for shipping-container-style loading of passengers on aircraft. The company’s prolific patent department put forth the “aircraft pod concept” in 2013 to pre-load passengers in detachable cabin sections to minimize turnaround time on the ground. It was just accepted by the Patent Office last week. As depicted in […]

An aerospace company’s new study on the hazards of toy drones mixing with manned aircraft concludes that the safety risks are greater that those of bird strikes. The study (PDF) from Aero Kinetics, “The Real Consequences of Flying Toy Drones in the National Airspace System,” concludes that rotorcraft pilots are at the highest risk of […]