Recent Updates

One person died but two others were uninjured in a midair collision between a Piper Cheyenne and another unidentified aircraft near Canada’s capital city of Ottawa on Sunday. The Cheyenne pilot reported the touch to ATC and did not declare an emergency. “Somebody hit the bottom side of my aircraft,” the unidentified pilot told the […]

An ID plate from Apollo 11’s lunar module Eagle sold for $468,500 at an auction of 2,000 items of memorabilia owned by the first man on the moon Saturday. The auction raised more than $7.4 million and was held on behalf of Neil Armstrong’s family. A piece of the propeller and wing from the Wright […]

Canadian prosecutors want the book thrown at a Quebec pilot whose beef against a utility company turned into what some suggested was an act of domestic terrorism using an Aerocruiser homebuilt, a kit aircraft he designed. Government lawyers have asked for the full 10-year maximum sentence on “mischief” charges against Normand Dub, who came close […]

For several years, a company called Commuter Craft has been showing a kit airplane called the Innovator. As the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase, the company’s Richard Hogan gave AVweb an update on the project. view on YouTube

The FAA has issued a notice removing several regulatory restrictions identified as major contributors to increasingly long wait times for pilot practical exams. FAA Notice N 8900.485 (PDF) gives designated pilot examiners (DPEs) the ability to conduct up to three tests and an unlimited number of retests per day and lets flight instructor applicants schedule […]

Toward the end of my flight, I had the following exchange with air traffic control: Approach Control: “N1234, expect visual approach Runway 32.” Me: “Any chance we can get the ILS 32?” Approach Control: “Well, there’s always a chance …” Me: “Well, capitalizing on that chance, we’d like to request the ILS 32.” Approach Control: […]

This week, AVweb‘s news roundup found reports of a new simulator for a Florida flight school, a scholarship for aspiring pilots, the launch of a STEM working group in the U.K., an AML expansion for fuel quantity senders and international garbage handling authority earned by a Washington FBO. ALSIM has announced the sale of an […]

The Trouble With Trainers Interesting, Paul’s correlation of lack of trainer sales to the alleged “pilot shortage”. The lack of interest by producers (or former) of trainers just another indication to me how overblown the “pilot shortage” is. As far as Cessna building piston powered planes, I agree that I think they want to eventually […]

The failure of a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle on Oct. 11 was caused by abnormal separation of one of the rocket’s boosters, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos. The committee investigating the incident says the malfunctioning booster hit the vehicle’s core stage in the fuel tank area, resulting in its decompression and a loss of attitude […]

A law firm has filed a second class-action suit against the FAA based on the agency’s air traffic controller hiring practices in 2014. The lawsuit alleges that the biographical assessment added to the initial air traffic controller application process in late 2013 was used to “intentionally disadvantage [Hispanic, Asian, Caucasian, and other] applicants based on […]