Recent Updates

The Marine Corps version of the F-35 might only last 25 percent of its presumed life expectancy according to a Pentagon report obtained by Bloomberg. The news service is reporting the short takeoff-vertical landing F-35B may only last 2,100 hours instead of the projected life limit of 8,000 hours. At a unit cost of about […]

A New York Times investigation of the Oct. 29, 2018, Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX crash suggests marketing considerations were at least partly behind Boeing’s and the FAA’s joint decision to not specifically train pilots in the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) that may have played a role in the crash. The Times story quotes […]

Air charter membership company Wheels Up is leveraging all the attention on the Super Bowl by running national television ads this weekend featuring New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Brady is among several celebrities seen boarding and sitting in the company’s King Airs and Citation aircraft. Brady and numerous other high-profile celebrities are members of […]

Honda Aircraft has been fined $44,626 for apparently trying a little too hard to do the right thing when hiring staff. The Justice Department announced this week that Honda was fined for discriminating against prospective employees based on their citizenship because the company misunderstood export restrictions. Under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and […]

Winter Flying Just a quick note to say I really enjoyed Paul’s recent article on winter flying. Having just returned from the frozen wasteland of Hoth or Iowa. Whatever they are calling it these days, I could appreciate his sentiment. I was supposed to be painting an airplane here in NC, where it blessedly says […]

Whelen Engineering, the well-known manufacturer of aircraft lamps and strobe lights, announced Friday that is has acquired LoPresti Aviation, another manufacturer of aircraft lighting systems and aircraft mods. The new entity, to be called Whelen Aerospace Technologies or WAT, will be based in Chester, Connecticut, Whelen Engineering’s long-established home. Whelen also has an extensive line […]

This week, AVweb‘s news roundup uncovered reports on acceptance for a new flying boat, a company’s 10,000th transponder delivery, an anniversary for an online ground school provider and an organization taking applications for an aircraft competition. The roundup also found announcements about an acquisition in the aviation lighting industry, a new aircraft maintenance pickup and […]

A few days ago, departing Minot North Dakota for Duluth in a Skylane, I asked ATC if the NOTAM for military training at Duluth had the airport closed, or whether it was open to GA traffic. He asked me to stand by for a minute, and then said, “It’s closed at the moment, but will […]

Retired U.S. Navy Captain Rosemary Mariner has died at the age of 65. Among her many achievements, Mariner was known for being the first woman to fly a tactical fighter jet and the first woman to command a naval aviation squadron. She served in the Navy from 1973 until her retirement in 1997. Mariner graduated […]

ForeFlight now lets pilots import, use and share custom content bundles through its Custom Content Packs feature. Introduced last month, Content Packs can include customized airport diagrams; procedure plates; georeferenced charts; map layers containing shapes, points and labels; and navigation data that links custom waypoints to PDF files. As shown in the video below, users […]