Mark Phelps

Last week’s massive flooding in India has killed at least 1,000 and stranded thousands more. The New York Times reports civilian and military helicopters are participating in the rescue and recovery operation. On Tuesday, a Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter crashed into a mountain while returning from a mission in the area of the Kedarnath Valley, some […]

This video is almost sure to start a lively debate on safety. A flight instructor and student in a Robinson R22 with an onboard video camera are shown flying over a group of RC modelers, and one of the men notes that a P-51 scale model has crashed into the treetops. They decide to descend […]

“You should have seen it before we started,” said Taigh Ramey of Vintage Aircraft and Stockton Field Aviation Museum in Stockton, California. He was talking about the ultra-rare Lockheed PV-2D long-range patrol bomber restored at the museum over the past three years. And with the series of before-and-after photos on the museum website, you can. […]

At the Paris Air Show, Daher-Socata and Voldirect, a small charter company with six employees, might have made history. The two jointly announced that the French civil aviation authority has officially awarded Voldirect an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) enabling the company to fly commercial passengers on its TBM 850 turboprop single. As U.S. vice president […]

Two teams of four high school students each have traveled to Arlington, Washington, for a very different form of summer camp. The eight campers won’t leave until they have built an airplane — at least to the stage where it will start its engine and taxi. Glasair’s “Two Weeks to Taxi” program is designed to […]

More than 2,000 visitors attended last Thursday’s NBAA business aviation forum at Westchester County Airport in New York, where 133 exhibitors displayed their products and services. In addition, a day-long series of information sessions and seminars helped educate aircraft operators — and prospective buyers — on the benefits of GA. NBAA chose the occasion to […]

The computers driving modern avionics systems are capable of serving as flight data recorders, and in this case, they reveal the final moments that lead to the death of two pilots in a Cirrus SR22 crash. A video account of the accident is available on YouTube (see below). The cousins, aged 23 and 34, died […]

The Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) published its first ever quarterly report, citing $1.7 billion in worldwide avionics sales for the first quarter of 2013. A previous report cited sales of nearly $6.3 billion for all of 2012. The report includes data from 20 avionics manufacturers, and does not break down sales by market segment or […]

George Longino is probably not your classic “early adopter” type. But a collection of circumstances make him the first owner of a fly-away, factory-built Van’s RV-12 — and just maybe, a historic figure. Van’s Aircraft decided to enter the production aircraft market after decades of building kits. Founder Richard Van Grunsven has established the most […]

The Smoky Hill Air National Guard Weapons Range is about 10 miles southwest of Salina Regional Airport (KSLN), and if your travel plans include flying through the area, be advised. On Thursday, June 6 (ironically, the 69th anniversary of D-Day), the Salina Airport Authority will host a safety briefing for pilots concerning this summer’s scheduled […]