Recent Updates

You can read about a thing, see a film about a thing or hear someone describe a thing but even if you’ve done all that, the thing itself will never be what you expect when you actually lay your own eyes on it. That’s the feeling I had today after spending most of the day […]

Flexible, twistable wing flaps that may improve flight efficiency were tested by NASA researchers in a recent series of flights. The Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge tests were flown at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, based on knowledge gained from the project’s prior flight tests in 2014 and 2015. “We’re twisting the inboard […]

The aviation community is continuing to respond to the Trump administration’s proposal on Monday to privatize the air traffic control system. FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta released a brief statement, saying he supports “looking at new ways to help us provide stable and sufficient funding to more rapidly modernize our system, while maintaining the highest […]

Although there’s been a death watch over Learjet for a year or more, the Bombardier subsidiary had cause for celebration last week. The iconic bizjet brand sold its 3,000th aircraft on June 2 and it coincidentally happened to be the 100th Learjet 75 produced by the Wichita plant. The aircraft was handed over to Leggett […]

Air Force pilots have told their commanders that the needs of families have to take a higher priority if they want to attract and retain aircrew. The Air Force is bleeding pilots to the airlines as a worldwide pilot shortage takes hold and the Air Force Times reported this week that jet jockeys want help […]

President Donald Trump will use a proposal to privatize air traffic control in the U.S. to kick off a weeklong blitz of announcements to push his infrastructure revitalization plan. At an announcement that includes an Oval Office ceremony and White House Rose Garden event on Monday morning, White House officials have confirmed Trump will affirm […]

Eclipse Aerospace announced a slate of upgrades for its next generation of light jet—”Project Canada.” The successor to the Eclipse 550 will be, predictably, bigger, faster and have fancy new avionics. The new jet will be powered by two of Williams’ FJ33 turbofans, similar to those fitted to the Cirrus SF50, though the engines on […]

The FAA and Department of Transportation released the list of airport improvement programs (AIP) that they will fund out of the discretionary portion of the AIP budget for the 2017 fiscal year earlier this week. For small airports, AIP grants can cover 90-95% of the cost of airport improvements such as runway or taxiway construction, […]

Following the 2011 Budget Control Act, better known as the bill requiring “sequestration,” the U.S. Air Force put eight of its newly upgraded C-5M Galaxy strategic airlifters into backup aircraft inventory—a highly ready but non-flying status—in order to keep operational costs under control, but Lt. Gen. Jerry D. Harris, the Air Force deputy chief of […]

The newest version of ForeFlight’s electronic flight bag software will include advanced fuel and performance planning tools for an additional $100 per year ($200 per year over the basic subscription price). Tyson Weihs, ForeFlight co-founder and CEO, said, “The new performance product that we’re launching delivers high performance flight planning for high performance airplanes.” The […]