Recent Updates

Certainly the disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 can be classified as the greatest mystery since Amelia Earhart. But after numerous conversations with airline colleagues, aviation friends, neighbors, workout buddies and bartenders, I’ve uncovered another mystery. Despite scientific evidence that proves otherwise, many of these educated people are emphatic in their belief that a 650,000-pound airplane […]

Bombardier’s new CS300 airliner completed its first test flight Friday, a success that the company hopes is part of a larger recovery from its struggles to develop the CSeries line of passenger jets. The jet departed Mirabel Airport near Montreal Friday morning and reached an altitude of 41,000 feet and a speed of 255 knots […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news worldwide found some developments in the UAS industry, international shipments for FlyThisSim’s Robinson trainer, and an STC in the making for helicopter lithium-ion batteries. SkyWard and Robotic Skies announced a partnership that teams the aviation expertise of each company to provide safety, compliance and maintenance solutions to the unmanned aerial […]

The world’s first 3D-printed jet engine — a breakthrough for aerospace manufacturing and beyond — took the spotlight Thursday at the Avalon Airshow in Australia. Monash University in Melbourne and Amaero Engineering partnered to develop the engine to show how the technology can make a complex machine in a fraction of the time taken in […]

The Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2, which would broaden third-class medical exemptions and expand legal rights, began its journey through the legislative assembly line this week as GA Caucus members in the U.S. Senate and House introduced companion bills. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., introduced S. 571 as an expansion of his legislation that was signed […]

The Santa Monica Airport Commission showed its support for the city’s strategy to eventually shut down aviation operations at the airport, recommending this week that the city council move ahead with taking over chunks of the 227-acre field and imposing new rules for hangar owners and other users. This latest move in the long battle […]

Continental Motors Group has received FAA type certification for its IO-360-AF engine and will deliver the first of the alternative-fuel powerplants to Flight Design in Germany. The maker of the CT light-sport models chose the Continental engine for its C4 certified airplane project in 2011. Continental’s approval “brings us another step closer to realizing our […]

This summer, a remote control tower developed by Saab will be tested at Leesburg Executive Airport, in Virginia. The technology makes it possible for controllers to operate as they would in a control tower, but from an off-airport location. A prototype system has been operational in Sweden since last fall, where controllers in Sundsvall work […]

Martin Jetpack, the New Zealand-based company that aims to bring a commercial jetpack to the market, raised $27 million Tuesday in its initial public offering, bringing the total value of the company to about $100 million, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. First deliveries of the devices, aimed at the first-responder market, are scheduled for […]

Did you happen to catch the Super Bowl commercial that had a 20-years-younger Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric discussing “the little a with a circle around it” then asking their off-camera producer to explain what this thing, the internet, was? The spot was funny because anyone who sees it now will marvel that just two […]