When I plopped my weary butt into a chair for Continental’s presser at AirVenture last month, what’s the first thing I see on the show-and-tell stand? A couple of Lycoming roller tappets and an angle-valve cylinder. Uh-oh, I thought, really bad timing for Lycoming. And it relates directly to what’s going on with the current […]
A report by the Swiss financial services company UBS says pilotless aircraft may take to the skies carrying cargo and passengers by 2025. The report estimates airlines would save $35 billion per year from decreased labor costs, reduced training expenses, improved fuel economy and cheaper insurance. One big hedge on the arrival date for unmanned […]
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has ordered Air Transat to explain why passengers were driven to call 911 for help as they sat in packed aircraft for up to six hours on a hot afternoon and evening in Ottawa. The agency, an independent quasi-judicial body that rules on complaints about air, rail and marine transportation […]
President Donald Trump has approved the sale of 12 Embraer Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria. Although the aircraft was designed in Brazil, the aircraft is being assembled in Jacksonville, Florida, and the weapons and sensor systems integrated by Colorado-based Sierra Nevada Corp. The supply chain was initially established for Embraer to supply the […]
The Marine Corps has abandoned hope of finding alive three Marines missing after their MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft went down off the northeast coast of Australia on Saturday. The other 23 personnel aboard the Osprey were rescued and only one of them had to be admitted to the hospital. The aircraft was taking part in […]
As expected, Robert Sumwalt has been confirmed as the 14th chair of the National Transportation Safety Board and he brings a wealth of aviation experience to the job. Sumwalt was a pilot for Piedmont Airlines and US Airways for 24 years and his appointment is being met with enthusiasm from aviation groups. “Robert is committed […]
When you’ve been flying an individual homebuilt airplane as long as we have (22 years, to be exact), you encounter a lot of opportunities for improving on your product. Occasionally these “improvements” come because of malfunctioning equipment. That’s certainly happened to me. Yet every now and then, you just want a little change. Either way, […]
Maximum endurance test flights on highly polished commercial aircraft can be boring—taking the phrase “drilling holes in the sky” to the new flight levels—but Boeing’s flight test team has been making an effort to add some levity to the ordeal. The new Boeing 787-800 needed an 18-hour test flight as part of its ETOPS certification, […]
In an effort to cut some cost off the next presidential transport, the Air Force is reportedly in talks with Boeing to buy two 747s that had been produced for the now-bankrupt Russian airline, Transaero. The two jumbo jets were ordered by the airline in 2013, but Transaero went bankrupt in 2015, before it could […]
The Perlan II glider reached its own best altitude of 32,500 feet this week as the team plans to soar well past the existing sailplane record of 50,727 feet, set by Einar Enevoldson and Steve Fossett in Perlan I in 2006. To get the pressured, two-seat glider to the target altitude of 90,000 feet, Perlan […]
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