Business & Military

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has posted a video online that illustrates how it expects to deliver payloads of up to 100 pounds into orbit for less than $1 million, within 24 hours of call-up, using a conventional jet fighter plane that can take off from ordinary runways. In a news release last […]

The test pilot who many test pilots acknowledge as the “Dean of Test Flight” died last week. Fitshugh “Fitz” Fulton died at his home in Los Angeles from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He was 89. Fulton tested everything from sailplanes to the YF-12 (predecessor of the SR-71) during his 40-year career and was inducted into […]

I’ve been covering and writing about businesses of various kinds for a long time and I’m trying to recall if executives always coveted buzz phrases they way they do now. Probably they have, but I just found it less obnoxious when I was younger. (Now, everything is obnoxious. Didn’t I warn you about being on […]

For one of the most famous people in the world, the first man on the moon was notoriously private and one of Neil Armstrong’s little secrets is now in the hands of the Smithsonian. Armstrong took one last step for posterity while evacuating the Eagle lander for the trip from moon orbit back to Earth. […]

Dassault Aviation’s new Falcon 8X completed its first flight this week from the company’s Bordeaux-Merignac facility in France and is on target for certification in mid-2016. Two test pilots completed the first of a series of flight and systems tests that will be followed with a second and third 8X, scheduled to fly in the […]

A Virginia company is exploring the potential for buying and restoring the first presidential Air Force One, a 1948 Lockheed C-121A Constellation used by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dynamic Aviation announced this week it’s researching the availability of parts, including engines and propellers, that can get the airplane, known as Columbine II, flying again.Owners Harry Oliver […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news worldwide found a new STC from Hartzell Propeller, Bearhawk Aircraft’s debuts in Africa and South America, Monarch Sky’s introduction of bitcoin and a new home for Air+Space Academy. Hartzell received a Supplemental Type Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration for the company’s new state-of-the-art lightweight Scimitar prop for all Cessna […]

Mooney International has a revamped transition training program in place for new owners of its M20 series airplanes, the company announced this week. The program, unveiled in 2014 following Mooney’s re-launched production line in Kerrville, Texas, updates training for Garmin G1000 avionics and includes dual instruction in Redbird FMX full-motion simulators. The five-day program meets […]

Continental is moving into the turbine overhaul and repair business with the acquisition of United Turbine and UT Aeroparts, of Miami. United Turbine is a major center for repair and overhaul of Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6 engines, which are used on most light-to-medium-sized turboprops. In its news release, Continental said the two businesses are similar except […]

Embraer flew its entry into the military transport world Tuesday when the KC-390 flight test aircraft made its first flight from San Jose Dos Campos, Brazil, on Tuesday. The aircraft, which will be competition for the C-130 Hercules, is a twin-engine jet with a high wing and rear ramp. It can carry a little more […]