Recent Updates

Now that the debris from the Tuesday election has rained back down from the heavens, how is general aviation likely to fair in a decidedly red Congress? Such that the 113th Congress didn’t accomplish much of anything, are the prospects for GA any better in the 114th, which convenes in January? Based on conversations I […]

Orbital Sciences said this week it plans to revamp its Antares rocket program and target another launch in 2016. Meanwhile, the company continues to investigate the cause of the Oct. 28 engine failure that led operators to intentionally destroy the unmanned supply rocket seconds after ignition. David Thompson, the company’s president and CEO, told investors […]

Canada will introduce a massive deregulation of commercial unmanned aerial systems later this year that will open up most of the country to for small UAS to fly without direct government oversight. In an announcement at the Unmanned Systems Canada conference in Montreal on Wednesday, Transport Canada Director General Martin Eley said his department will […]

Advocates of Santa Monica Municipal Airport said this week they won’t give up their fight to prevent the city from redeveloping the field, despite a failed ballot initiative that would have put the airport’s fate in the hands of voters. The ballot question asked residents if the city should be required to seek approval from […]

A sale is a sale but Textron Airland probably didn’t expect its first customer-owned Scorpion military jets to hit the airshow circuit. DefenseNews is quoting unnamed sources as saying the United Arab Emirates is in “serious discussions” to buy Scorpions for its air demonstration team, Al Fursan. The team currently flies six (with a seventh […]

Embraer recently rolled out is largest military aircraft to date and is apparently taking aim at the venerable C-130 with the KC-390. Embraer hopes to fly the high-wing twin turbofan by the end of the year and certify it by the end of 2015 with the first operational aircraft delivered in 2016. The KC-390 has […]

An F-35C Lightning II carrier variant Joint Strike Fighter has completed an arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time, the U.S. Navy announced this week. The landing took place aboard USS Nimitz off the coast of San Diego on Monday, shortly after noon. Navy Cmdr. Tony Wilson was the pilot. “Today is […]

Losing people in a flight program is gut-wrenchingly hard and today I feel for all of the folks at Scaled Composites. None of them set out to lose a friend and injure another when they prepared to launch SpaceShipTwo last Friday. Their goal was the same as every person or team that has ever taken […]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting (subscription only) that structural failure, rather than an engine explosion, is the initial focus of the NTSB investigation into the loss of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo on Friday. It is quoting unnamed sources as saying the preliminary video and data analysis is turning the focus to an aerodynamic breakup, although […]

Investigators probing the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo are focusing on a potential uncommanded deployment of the vehicle’s unique feathering tail structure designed to create drag and control speed during atmospheric entry. In a press conference Sunday evening, NTSB acting chairman Christopher Hart said that early data indicated the crew activated one of two controls […]