Aviation News

The FAA recently complied with President Donald Trump’s February executive order for federal agencies to begin comprehensive regulatory reforms. The order was a fulfillment of his campaign promise to “reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy,” as he ordered every federal agency to create a task force to examine existing regulations and identify those […]

In a month where it seems like more and more airline customers in the news are cranky, if not downright angry, Canada’s WestJet tried something novel to thank a plane full of passengers and celebrate the company’s 21st year in business. Because WestJet delivers more passengers to Las Vegas from outside the United States than […]

The British company Hybrid Air Vehicles has resumed flight testing on what has been called the largest aircraft in the world – the Airlander 10. Though this was the first flight since last summer and only the third test flight of the massive helium-filled structure, it flew for about three hours and the crew accomplished […]

The National Transportation Safety Board met April 25 to detail its investigation into the June 2015 midday crash of a turbine Otter sightseeing aircraft in mountainous terrain 25 miles east of Ketchikan, Alaska. Operated by Promech Air Inc., of Ketchikan, the accident claimed the lives of the pilot and all eight passengers. The investigation uncovered […]

From the scene of the accident to the rendering of the probable cause, the National Transportation Safety Board follows an established process to determine why an aircraft crash happened. For the NTSB investigators that form a crash “Go Team” — experts chosen from a broad range of NTSB aviation specialties — that often means unraveling the […]

The outlook for the fate of Santa Monica Airport remains grim, but all hope is not lost. The U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit has referred a controversial agreement between the FAA and the city of Santa Monica, California, to close Santa Monica Airport to a “merits panel” for further review regarding […]

Aircraft range has been a problem since the Wright Brothers, usually meaning too much mission for the fuel aboard. But after last week’s first flight of the sunlight-powered SolarStratos, range problems just might be headed for a permanent solution. The Swiss two-seat electric aircraft, originally created to mimic the mythical flight of Icarus, uses electricity […]

NASA wants its FUN3D software, the application its engineers use to design aircraft and airfoils, to run 10,000 times faster, and is asking for anyone with working knowledge of the Modern Fortran software language to take up the High Performance Fast Computing Challenge. Doug Rohn, director of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program, calls the effort […]

The Icon team out of Vacaville, California, suffered a tragic loss yesterday as two employees died in a crash on the shores of Lake Berryessa, where the company conducts water operations for its amphibious LSA, the A5. Lead engineer and chief test pilot Jon Karkow, and Cagri Sever, who recently joined the Icon team, were […]

Pilot Shaesta Waiz will take off from Daytona International Airport in her single-engine A36 Beechcraft Bonanza on May 13 for a 90-day solo flight around the globe. Along the way, she will make 30 stops in 18 countries on five continents. But the flight’s stops are about more than simply resting and refueling. The 29-year-old […]