Recent Updates

This week, AVweb‘s weekly news roundup uncovered reports on National Aviation Day celebration at the Air Zoo and a visit from members of the U.K.’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation. In honor of National Aviation Day, Portage, Michigan’s Air Zoo will be offering free entry to its Flight Discovery Center from noon to 5 […]

The FAA has issued a statement warning operators of unmanned aircraft (UAS/drones) to stay away from wildfires. The agency emphasized that while proper use of drones for firefighting missions can provide a lot of useful information, unauthorized flights risk lives, especially since firefighting operations typically occur in the same airspace as the majority of hobby […]

Unleaded Avgas “Regardless of which fuel is selected, on that first takeoff, what will YOU be thinking?” I’ll be thinking “I’m glad I’m not flying behind a high-HP engine that needs 100-octane fuel” 😉 Joking aside, I’ve been saying that I’ll be glad to do away with TEL because I won’t have to worry about […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a contract to configure nine F/A-18E and two F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Blue Angels demonstration team. Since the team’s first performance in 1946, the Blue Angels have used eight aircraft models, including the F11F-1 Tiger, F-4J Phantom II and A-4F Skyhawk II. They have been flying F/A-18C/D Hornets […]

After more than ten years in development, the Privateer Amphibian made its first successful flight last week. The single-engine pusher from Privateer Industries was designed by John Meekins and Bill Husa. As seen in the video below, the flight went well, although it has been reported that minor instrumentation issues prevented some of the planned […]

Gulfstream Aerospace has announced that it is beginning FAA certification field performance testing on its Gulfstream G600 long-range business jet. The aircraft made its first flight on Dec. 17, 2016. Since then, Gulfstream says its five G600 test planes have made more than 600 flights and accumulated over 2,290 flight hours. “We continue to make […]

Authorities in China opened 93 new general aviation airports in the first half of this year, Xinhua reported this week, bringing the total number of GA airports nationwide to 173. The country now has a total of 404 airports, including 231 civil airports. Authorities have said China plans to open 200 new GA airports by […]

NASA has announced new partnerships with six U.S. companies to develop technologies related to space exploration. The accepted proposals cover three strategic technology focus areas: Expand Utilization of Space, Enable Efficient and Safe Transportation Into and Through Space, and Increase Access to Planetary Surfaces. Altogether, NASA will be awarding approximately $44 million dollars to the […]

There’s all kinds of shaking going on in the unleaded avgas sphere, as evidenced by revelations at Oshkosh this year. Those of us who expect the progress of science and commerce to be orderly and stately might be dismayed by the apparent confusion, indeterminacy, contradiction and flawed human behavior in the quest for a lead-free […]