Pia Bergqvist

It is uncommon for everyone to survive during a midair collision with major damage to the airplanes involved. But that is exactly what happened during a failed F-16 training mission that was conducted on October 20 last year. Unable to maintain visual contact with its lead airplane during a formation maneuver, one pilot collided with […]

Aiming to improve the fuel efficiency and emissions profile of jet engines, Purdue University has announced an expansion and improvement of its Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories. “This expansion will boost Zucrow’s research collaborations with leading firms and provide additional educational opportunities to prepare our students for jobs in industry, academia and the public sector,” said […]

If you, like many pilots, build relationships with the airplanes you fly, this story may tug at your heartstrings. Retired Navy pilot Robert Jones was recently reunited with an airplane he was forced to eject out of 57 years ago. As a 22-year-old Navy pilot, Jones was forced to eject out of the FJ-4B Fury […]

Pratt & Whitney Canada has achieved type certification for its new PurePower PW814GA and PW815GA engines, which will power the G500 and G600 clean-sheet, fly-by-wire business jets launched by Gulfstream about four months ago. As part of the certification effort, the PW800 series engines have gone through more than 3,300 hours of testing, including more […]

It’s been a long time coming, but over the weekend the FAA released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the operation and certification of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) weighing less than 55 pounds. The NPRM suggests that people flying drones would be referred to as “operators” and not pilots. These operators would have to […]

The 2015 edition of the Red Bull Air Race launched in Abu Dhabi this weekend and, in addition to the usual thrills provided by the intense aerobatic pylon races, the competition included some extra excitement that fortunately ended with no serious injuries. While circling to enter the racecourse, Kirby Chambliss’ Edge 540 airplane lost its […]

There’s no question that drones are here to stay and we will likely soon see uses for these remotely controlled aerial vehicles that we can’t even imagine. But a growing number of citizens are concerned about their privacy as an increasing number of camera-clad buzzers fly near their homes. As people are looking for solutions, […]

Less than a year after the launch of Enstrom Helicopter’s latest trainer, the TH180, which the Menominee, Michigan-based company unveiled at last year’s Heli-Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California, Enstrom has successfully completed its first flight. Test pilots flew the helicopter for about one hour and the company said in a press […]

Some instructors say that flying can’t be taught in the cockpit. And while we have to fly a certain number of hours in an actual aircraft in order to earn the various levels of pilot certificates, there is some validity to this argument. In the cockpit, there are many distractions from the teaching process: traffic, […]

Dassault Aviation successfully completed the first flight of its new flagship model, the ultra-long-range Falcon 8X business jet, which the company recently rolled out of its Mérignac, France-based factory near Bordeaux. The 1 hour 45 minute flight took the trijet as high as FL 400 and to speeds as great as Mach 0.80. Test pilots […]