Recent Updates

AOPA says it will file its formal response Monday to a $66 million patent infringement suit launched by SD Holdings LLC, a Washington company that holds two patents on online flight planning tools. As we reported extensively in 2010 and 2011, the patents were awarded to Kyle Everson and Roger Stenbock, who at the time […]

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has agreed by consensus to address the contribution aviation makes to climate change by 2016. However, the somewhat nebulous resolution, adopted in the closing hours of the ICAO’s once-every-three-years general assembly in Montreal last week, apparently doesn’t guarantee that any concrete measures will result, nor does it satisfy the […]

Linear Air and Hopscotch Air have teamed up to offer new a air taxi service, flying the Cirrus SR-22 between White Plains, NY and Boston. But there may be something unique about their approach — they’re starting slow. Linear Air COO Peter Schmidt explains the service and why he thinks his company’s business model is […]

Two companies, Linear Air and Hopscotch Air, are hoping to spread awareness of, assess demand for, and then build on their new air taxi service launched Oct. 1, that operates the Cirrus SR-22 between White Plains, New York, and Boston. Both companies are involved in other sustaining ventures, so neither depends directly on the success […]

American Airlines said this week it will begin hiring again for the first time in over a decade, seeking to acquire 1,500 pilots over the next five years. The carrier is not yet out of bankruptcy, and has been involved in restructuring for nearly two years now, but began recalling pilots late last year. It […]

Cessna mated the wing to the fuselage of the first prototype of its new Latitude mid-sized business jet last week and says the aircraft is on track to fly in early 2014. Cessna announced the Latitude at the 2011 NBAA convention in Las Vegas as a direct challenge to the Embraer 450 and so far […]

The commercial space industry took some giant leaps forward over the weekend with two separate successful missions. On Sunday, Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus cargo ship successfully rendezvoused with the International Space Station, bringing a load of groceries and other supplies. A few hours later, a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster took a Canadian research satellite to […]

A Bangor, Maine, newspaper reported this week that Kestrel Aircraft is struggling to pay workers and is behind on its rent payments at the companys Brunswick Naval Air Station facility. Kestrel CEO Alan Klapmeier confirmed to the Bangor Daily News that payments and payroll have been late and that Kestrel employees in Brunswick are currently […]

NASA, working with the Lindbergh Foundation, will show off early research that it believes could lead to “potentially revolutionary aviation concepts and technologies” during a three-day virtual seminar held Oct. 22-24. Subjects include ceramic matrix and hybrid composites for next generation aircraft, cooperative gust sensing and suppression for aircraft formation flight, sense and avoid radar […]

A Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter crew has won two of the most prestigious search and rescue awards for a daring mission into the teeth of one of the biggest winter storms to hit North America earlier this year. The servicemen will pick up the Cormorant Trophy and the Prince Philip Helicopter Rescue Award in […]