Stephen Pope

A Chinese-Russian manufacturing consortium has pledged more than $1 billion to produce a line of four- to 12-seat general aviation airplanes in China, according to the country’s People’s Daily newspaper. The report said a signing ceremony for the China-Russia general aviation aircraft production project was held recently in Beijing. At the ceremony, China Oriental Sciences […]

“Don’t put the gear down just yet,” said the instructor, who also happened to be the owner of the flight school where I was getting my commercial multi training. I was in the midst of performing the requisite 10 night takeoffs and landings in a Piper Seneca and this was my third or maybe fourth […]

The Pipistrel Taurus G4, a four-seat electric aircraft that won NASA’s $1.35 million Green Flight Challenge last year, has been nominated for this year’s prestigious Collier Trophy. The competition this year is especially tough. The National Aeronautic Association named four nominees for the 2011 Robert J. Collier Trophy, one of which — the Boeing 787 […]

During our early training days the instructor drilled it into our heads that, absent any visual reference to the outside world, our inner ear would soon fool our minds into believing that the airplane was pointed one way when in truth something entirely different was occurring. In these instances, left could become right and up […]

If you’re looking for a big-iron cockpit job and wouldn’t mind relocating halfway around the world, you may be in luck: Pan Am International Flight Academy and Wasinc International, China’s largest pilot placement firm, are hosting job fairs at Pan Am’s Miami and Las Vegas training centers. Pan Am is hosting the Miami job fair […]

A House-Senate Conference Committee has reached agreement on a long-term FAA reauthorization bill that would provide funding and program direction for the agency through fiscal 2015. A final vote on the measure is expected soon. The FAA has been operating under 23 short-term funding extensions since 2007. The long-term bill, if passed, would authorize $63.4 […]

Manslaughter charges brought against a New Hampshire private pilot who held only a single-engine land pilot certificate when he crashed his Cessna 310 twin on New Years Day 2011 should serve as a warning to all pilots. The message is this: If you do something dumb in an airplane, not only can people be hurt […]

If you enjoy sharpening your piloting skills with Microsoft Flight Simulator but wish you could ratchet up the realism a notch or two, check this out. Vatsim, a worldwide community of virtual air traffic controllers and PC pilots, is planning a major live event the weekend of Feb. 18 in Newark, New Jersey, that will […]

A New Hampshire pilot was indicted on Friday on charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the New Year’s Day 2011 crash of a Cessna 310 that killed his daughter. A grand jury indicted Stephen Fay, 57, for the death of Jessica Malin after it was determined that Fay was piloting his twin-engine Cessna without […]

Aviation biofuels hold many promises, perhaps the most important being their ability to yield reductions in greenhouse gases emitted by aircraft in flight. Still, airlines will be willing to transition to sustainable fuels only if there is a financial case to do so. Fuel costs are a significant portion of an airline’s overall operating costs […]