Recent Updates

Former Epic Air CEO Fred “Rick” Schrameck has pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud, according a statement released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. Schrameck was charged with soliciting customers to purchase and help build experimental aircraft—to the tune of more than $1.4 million each—then misrepresenting how […]

As countries across Europe take climate change and pollution seriously, 16 countries in Europe have signed on to a project called Horizon 2020 which will make significant investments in making aviation and aerospace industries greener. For several years, the European Union’s Clean Sky project has sponsored aviation research projects to fund environmentally friendly aviation technology […]

Change and I have an uneasy relationship, the former claiming I’m slow to embrace technology, unwilling to “try something new.” Sheesh … Change can be so … you know … and so in your face, too. I submit that ADFs and VORs were working just fine—when you could receive them—and I saw no value to […]

At the ILA show in Berlin this week, a German company called Bauhaus Luftfahrt showed off an intriguing new aircraft engine that combines piston engines with a conventional turbofan design in what it calls a composite cycle engine. A long-term concept powerplant, the company estimates such an engine could be ready for introduction in 2050. […]

Uber plans to host a second Elevate conference, May 8-9, in Los Angeles, bringing together more than 700 leaders from around the world to discuss the future of aeronautical technology for urban transit. Last year’s summit roster included leaders from industry, government and academia, including Embraer, Bell Helicopter, Pipistrel, Aurora Flight Sciences, Mooney, NASA, Airbus […]

The FAA funding bill now under consideration in Congress includes allocations for research into single-piloted commercial aircraft, and several pilot advocacy groups are lobbying hard against it, citing safety and security concerns. “The desire by some in the industry to pursue single-piloted or autonomously piloted cargo aircraft seriously places the American public and the flight […]

An F-22 Raptor attempting takeoff at Naval Air Station Fallon may have lost an engine and ended up touching down with the gear up last week. The aircraft slid and came to rest on the runway. The jet was from the 3rd Air Force Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. After the incident, […]

NASA will be conducting a series of supersonic flights to gauge future community response to the noise signature of its Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator aircraft (LBFD). Since the contract for construction of the LBFD X-plane was only just awarded to Lockheed Martin at the beginning of April, the Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 (QSF18) study will use […]

New bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives that, if passed, would authorize funding for the FAA until 2023. Unlike previous iterations, H.R. 4, called the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018,” does not include provisions for removal of ATC from FAA oversight. The bill is scheduled to go to the House floor […]

Southwest Airlines captain Tammie Jo Shults, 56, is being hailed as a hero for her deft and calm handling of an uncontained engine failure that damaged her Boeing 737 and claimed the life of passenger Jennifer Riordan on Tuesday. Throughout the emergency, Shults’ communications remained clear and direct as she diverted the plane to Philadelphia, […]