Recent Updates

The military aircraft accident rate has jumped significantly in the past year and Sen. John McCain has said it’s the natural result of years of penny pinching with the military. “Perhaps the greatest harm to our national security and our military is self-inflicted. I repeat, self-inflicted,” McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said […]

Photos shared with AVweb show the Cobalt Co50 Valkyrie undergoing flight testing at Hayward Executive Airport (KHWD) this summer before a test flight setback in September sidelined the newer of Cobalt’s two test aircraft. According to the NTSB preliminary report, after determining that the ailerons were not effective, the ATP-rated test pilot “reasoned that he […]

Airbus has created a new innovation center in Shenzhen, China, near Hong Kong, where it will pursue research that would enable a single pilot to fly commercial aircraft, according to Bloomberg News. Airbus Chief Technology Officer Paul Eremenko told Bloomberg this week, “We’re pursuing single-pilot operation as a potential option, and a lot of the […]

A U.S. Navy C2-A aircraft with 11 crew and passengers on board crashed into the Philippine Sea on Wednesday afternoon, the Navy has reported. Eight of the personnel were rescued by the U.S. Navy “Golden Falcons” helicopter squadron, and all were reported in good condition. Three people are missing. “Our entire focus is on finding […]

view on YouTube Days after a Navy E/A-18 crew decided to use government aircraft to draw a contrail phallus in the sky, two Marine Corps crews flew a Bell AH-1W Super Cobra and Bell UH-1Y Venom across town to pick up a cellphone left in a pub, according to the Mount Desert Islander. The local […]

For the 2017 fiscal year, there were 27 fatal accidents involving experimental category aircraft, down 18% from the prior year and down 47% over the last four years, says EAA, which is celebrating the trend. “These are historic lows for fatal accidents in amateur-built aircraft and this continuing trend is a credit to everyone who […]

A Tropic Air Cessna Caravan carrying the acting Prime Minister of Belize, Patrick Faber, Agriculture Minister Godwin Hulse and five other passengers clipped a car on takeoff from Placencia Municipal Airport and ended up in the water at the end of the runway Friday. No one was hurt in the incident, which has sparked an […]

While regional airlines seem to be the hardest hit so far by the tightening supply of pilots, business aircraft operators are also feeling the pinch. As with the regionals, deep-pocketed larger airlines are outbidding smaller operators for the pool of experienced jet pilots and there is an inevitable result from that. “It’s really a buyers’ […]

One of the most important conversations going on in aviation today has to do with the proposal to remove the air traffic control organization from the FAA and turn it into a privatized entity. Proponents claim that this would free the function from the bureaucracy and petty budgetary pressures of the FAA and lead to […]

The Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander broke free from its mooring mast at Cardington Airfield in England but a uniquely dramatic safety feature prevented it from running amok. Airlander reported on Saturday that after leaving its moorings, an onboard system ripped open the hull and deflated the enormous aircraft so it ended up crumpled on the […]