Aviation News

Text-based area forecasts (FA) have for decades confounded both student and experienced pilots, at least until they completed the training to decode them. Before takeoff, an aviator might have come face-to-face with these expected weather conditions in eastern Pennsylvania: PA NJ NERN PA … SKC or SCT 060. 06Z SCT-BKN CI. OTLK … VFR, SE […]

The month-long suspense that’s been building over about a possible United Technologies/Rockwell Collins deal finally ended Tuesday morning with an announcement Bloomberg called “one of the biggest in aviation history.” United Technologies chairman and CEO Greg Hayes confirmed his company will purchase Rockwell Collins for $30 billion. Rockwell shareholders will receive $140 per share of […]

The Airbus Perlan 2 has reached new heights, breaking the world record for a glider flight as it soared to 52,172 feet. An Aero Boero AB-180 tow plane pulled chief pilot Jim Payne and co-pilot Morgan Sandercock off the ground at Comandante Armando Tola International Airport, which sits at an elevation of 669 feet in […]

For the past 10 years, Sierra Nevada Corporation has been chasing the dream of creating a small, lifting-body spacecraft that could be used to deliver cargo and eventually humans to the International Space Station. Fittingly, that spacecraft is known as Dream Chaser, and on Wednesday it took another step toward SNC’s goal of achieving orbital […]

For decades prior to the advent of electronic instrumentation, flight instructors regularly taught pilots not to trust fuel gauges lest a failure leave them unknowingly running on empty. Despite more accurate measurement systems, fuel mismanagement still ranks number six on the NTSB’s list of GA accident categories, accounting for roughly 50 accidents each year, some […]

Pilots who see the words “flying” and “Oshkosh” in the same sentence this week can be excused for thinking someone’s already planning for next year’s AirVenture. But not so. The skies over Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh will soon be filled with aircraft preparing for the weeklong U.S. National Aerobatic Championships hosted by the International […]

No, there will not be 1 billion drones flying around the world in 2030. The concept of a drone, as defined by futurist Thomas Frey, means there will be 1 billion unmanned vehicles flying, rolling, swimming and more. Frey touched on the impact drones could have in the future while speaking at the World of […]

As Gulfstream nears FAA certification for its new series of luxury business jets, the G500 and G600, the company announced it has flown the final G600 test aircraft. The G500 and G600 are both highly advanced bizjets incorporating fly-by-wire, touchscreen avionics and active control sidestick technology. This is the fifth G600 test bed Gulfstream has […]

It is not often that a fully aerobatic airplane is certified. But just this week the team at Bentonville, Arkansas-based Game Composites saw their GB1 GameBird receive its certification. The FAA signed the Part 23 paperwork yesterday — about four months after the European Aviation Safety Agency gave its approval. The GameBird was hatched in […]

The pilot shortage we’ve all been told would materialize any day? It’s finally a reality. Don’t believe it? Just look at Horizon Air, which canceled hundreds of flights this summer because it couldn’t find qualified pilots to fly its Q400 turboprops. Or SkyWest, whose CEO recently warned Congress not of a looming pilot shortage but […]