Recent Updates

The FAA has certified the folding wingtips that Boeing has installed on its Boeing 777X, the latest iteration of its long-haul stalwart. The new aircraft has longer wings than current models, allowing higher, faster and more fuel-efficient operation, but that means they won’t fit well into a lot of airport gates. Chopping about 15 feet […]

Although the pilot shortage has mainly manifested in regional flight cancellations in the U.S., the largest Persian Gulf carrier, Emirates, is reportedly ready to park 18 percent of its fleet. Airline Geeks says Emirates will also reduce pilot staffing on long-haul flights and that its deployment of pilots might be part of the reason it’s […]

Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft hit its full cruise configuration for the first time May 11 and is expected to be flying farther and faster through the rest of the summer. The aircraft achieved 190 knots with its rotors fully forward and has a design cruise speed of 290 knots. The aircraft is being developed […]

The U.S. commercial space industry got increased competition from an unexpected source on Saturday when a Chinese company launched its first private rocket. OneSpace Technologies sent an OS-X rocket to an altitude of about 25 miles from a secret launch site in northwestern China. The GB Times reported the 30-foot single stage solid fuel vehicle […]

The Albuquerque Journal is reporting that One Aviation has attracted new investors, wants to resume building airplanes and is offering to pay most of its back rent to the City of Albuquerque as part of its restructuring process. In a May 17 letter to the city obtained by the Journal, Mike Wyse, the new chairman […]

The Heritage Air Museum tours with a nicely restored C-123 Provider, an airplane most people have never seen or even heard of. In this AVweb video shot at AirVenture, the Museum’s Jack McMahon tells us all about the airplane. view on YouTube

The face of aviation training is changing and one of the places where the effects can be seen is in how many and what kinds of new aircraft are entering the aviation training fleet. There are a lot of factors driving the shift—a more globalized economy, new investors, training costs and developing technologies, to name […]

The FAA has announced its acceptance of 30 published ASTM International consensus standards for certification of normal category Part 23 airplanes. The new Means of Compliance (MOC) are, according to the FAA, “an acceptable means, but not the only means, of showing compliance to the applicable regulations in Part 23 [and] provide at least the […]

I got an odd email from a reader and then Tom Wolfe died. There’s no cause and effect, but the two have a connection. All of us in aviation will remember Tom Wolfe for his iconic book about test pilots and the early space program, The Right Stuff. Except it really wasn’t about either of […]

A new study from Helicopter Association International (HAI) and the University of North Dakota (UND) is projecting a significant shortage of rotorcraft pilots and mechanics between now and 2036. According to the UND-HAI Rotorcraft Pilot and Mechanic Supply Forecast, “more helicopter pilots are projected to retire or leave than are incoming over the next 12 […]