Recent Updates

Mitsubishi has pushed back the certification and delivery schedule of its MRJ regional jet by at least a year, saying the aircraft might not be strong enough to meet certification requirements. In a surprise announcement on Christmas Eve, Mitsubishi Aircraft President Hiromichi Morimoto said the 90-seat aircraft meets so-called “normal use” requirements but the company […]

The Army’s longest-serving unmanned aerial system retired this month after a final flight at Fort Hood in Texas. Operators of the Hunter, a fixed-wing unit similar in size to a two-seat piston airplane, enjoyed a last demonstration flight during a ceremony Dec. 16 at Robert Gray Army Airfield. The UAS is among the early generations […]

This week’s successful landing and recovery of a launch booster by SpaceX got a lot favorable coverage and was an impressive feat. But as a classically trained aeronautical engineer who spent more than three decades flying crewed rocket ships into space, I have always looked at the concept of a fly-back booster with skepticism. The […]

Flying an RV-8 from Los Angeles, California to Oxfordshire, England in 19 days may strike many as an adventure of a lifetime. For me, the 7000 NM trip was my way to return home after working four years in the Tesla Motors Design Studio in Hawthorne, California. Airfields along the Crimson Route, partially developed in […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news found announcements from airline training company CAE, a new quick-build airplane kit,details for the nextWomen in Aviation Conference, and an announcement fromLiving Legends of Aviation.CAE announced a series of training solution contracts valued at more than C$100 million with five airlines. The diversity of these agreements highlights the span of […]

The FAA said on Tuesday 45,000 drones were registered in the first day of the online registry, and the site will be taken down overnight tonight for site maintenance, in anticipation of an expected rush of registrants on Christmas Day. “While an overwhelming number of people have successfully registered, we have received reports from a […]

The FAA said today it has reached a settlement with Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) regarding 13 complaints that the company had failed to meet various compliance standards. Under the agreement, BCA must pay the government $12 million and also must implement changes to several certification processes, “to further enhance the airworthiness and continued compliance of […]

The FAA is working on ways for private aviators to protect their flight data from being made public, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. NBAA and GAMA have been pressing the FAA, the Journal reported, to ensure that as new air traffic control systems such as ADS-B are developed, they will […]

Transport Canada has issued type certification for Bombardier’s CSeries airliner. Transport Minister Marc Garneau made the announcement last week at Bombardier’s Montreal-area facility. The CSeries is the first clean-sheet single-aisle airliner to be certified in at least 20 years and Bombardier is pinning its future on the fuel-efficient, fly-by-wire jet. The aircraft certified last week […]

SpaceX successfully landed its reusable booster rocket after launching a payload of 11 small satellites into orbit Monday evening.It was SpaceX’s first launch since a rocket boosting a re-supply capsule to the International Space Station was destroyed shortly after launch in late June. Monday’s launch was the fourth attempt at reusing the 15-story booster after […]