Recent Updates

The oft-maligned but remarkably capable Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor entered combat for the first time this week when an undisclosed number were used in airstrikes against Islamic State strongholds and facilities in Syria. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the aircraft dropped GPS-guided bombs on an array of targets, including a building […]

I suspect if you could somehow get a full overview of the number and type of unmanned aircraft in use today and the companies involved in their manufacture, the response would be: Wow, I never imagined. I am constantly running into people in the aviation business who are directly or indirectly involved in UAS projects. […]

Forbes blogger Gregory S. McNeal is reporting that the FAA will make a major announcement on the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) Thursday when it gives the movie industry permission to legally use remotely piloted aircraft in production. What Forbes also says is that the deal with Hollywood will set the basic standards, […]

Airbus has agreed to collaborate on technology development with Aerion Corporation, the Reno, Nevada, company that has been working over the last decade to develop a supersonic business jet. “To further their mutual objectives, both companies will exchange knowledge and capabilities in design, manufacturing and certification,” Aerion announced on Monday. Airbus will provide technical and […]

Two Illinois congressmen have introduced legislation that would force the FAA to abandon a controversial new recruitment process to fill an anticipated 10,000 air traffic controller openings over the next 10 years. Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren and Democrat Dan Lipinski introduced the Safe Towers Act on Friday. The bill, if passed, will force the FAA […]

AOPA says pretty much anything to do with aircraft storage and active maintenance and construction should be considered an “aeronautical use” and be permitted in hangars on federally funded airports. In comments to the FAA (PDF) on its proposed policy on the definition of aeronautical uses, AOPA says it wants the FAA’s policy to use […]

As part of the 100th anniversary celebration for its first-in-the-nation Aeronautical (now Aerospace) Engineering Department, the University of Michigan is staging a flyoverof a fleet of historic aircraft before Saturday’s football game at the Big House. Honoring an engineering school that turned out such notables as Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, founder of Lockheed’s famed Skunk Works, […]

It hasn’t been a quiet week in aviation news-our survey uncovered certification testing of the Falcon 7X at the world’s highest airport, SAFE Teacher Grant Awards, a big sale of Embraer E175 jets and a company that’s developing a way to surf behind an airplane. The long-range Falcon 7X will soon become the first business […]

Rapid transportation-that is, anything faster than a galloping horse-hasn’t been with us all that long. Steam locomotives weren’t in widespread use until well into the 19th century, cars came along 70 years later and the airplane a full century after the locomotive. But the timeline for speed evolution in airplanes was almost too rapid to […]

In response to what was becoming a stalemate over an airman who was trying to reenlist, the U.S. Air Force has directed its support offices to allow both enlisted members and officers to omit the words “So help me God” from oaths for enlistment and officer appointments if an airman chooses. The change became effective […]