Bethany Whitfield

China is gearing up for what will be its fourth manned space launch and possibly the country’s first launch to include a female astronaut, according to a recent announcement made by a government news agency over the weekend. The mission is expected to include the launch of three astronauts into space aboard the Shenzhou 9, […]

A Pilatus PC-12 carrying a family of six crashed in Central Florida on Thursday, killing all six individuals aboard after what appears to have been an in-flight separation of the aircraft, authorities say. Just 30 minutes prior to the crash, the single-engine turboprop had made a stopover to clear customs in Fort Pierce, Florida, while […]

The top-secret Boeing X-37B space plane that has been orbiting the Earth for the last 15 months is scheduled to descend on Vandenberg Air Force Base “during the early- to mid-June timeframe,” according to a statement issued by the base. The landing will constitute the second for the unmanned spacecraft, following the completion of the […]

Boeing’s hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye UAV made its maiden autonomous flight last Friday, staying aloft for 28 minutes after taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in California. During the flight, Phantom Eye reached an altitude of just over 4,000 feet and a cruising speed of 68 knots before coming in for a rough landing that […]

Three GA aircraft were intercepted by F-16s in the past two days after busting a presidential TFR in the airspace surrounding Los Angeles, marking the latest in a growing string of TFR busts in the area since February. On Wednesday night, the offending airplane was a single-engine Cessna, which was intercepted northwest of L.A. around […]

After seeking bankruptcy protection just last month, Hawker Beechcraft is exploring a variety of options to improve its position, including a sale of the company, according to a recent report in the Wichita Eagle. Potential buyers have until Thursday to submit their bids, in anticipation of Hawker Beechcraft’s submission of a detailed restructuring plan to […]

Investigators on Tuesday announced that they have found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the MD-83 that crashed on Sunday afternoon into the heavily populated city of Lagos, Nigeria, killing all 153 aboard and a number of others on the ground. Recovery workers had found 150 bodies as of Tuesday afternoon. They […]

Pieces of a cosmetic jar found on a remote Pacific island have rekindled speculation over what happened to Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan during their ill-fated circumnavigational flight attempt in 1937. The jar remnants, found by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) on the island of Nikumaroro, reportedly resemble pieces of a […]

On the heels of SpaceX’s successful mission to the International Space Station, the FAA has given the green light for another commercial venture to move one step further toward space flight by granting Scaled Composites an experimental permit for rocket-powered test flights of SpaceShipTwo. With the permit in hand, Scaled says it anticipates the commencement […]

Burgeoning aircraft designer John McGinnis is searching for support for an aircraft design with quite an ambitious goal: To provide the fuel efficiency of a small jet 10 times over while cutting the price tag by the same measure. That design, known as Synergy, was unveiled last year at the CAFÉ Electric Aircraft Symposium in […]