Aviation News

A few significant glimmers of hope for general aviation’s future appeared last week during the Aircraft Design and Testing session of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) panel on “Restoring the Foundation of Aviation.” Held June 16 in Washington, D.C., the panel hoped to add a few badly needed doses of reality to […]

Solar Impulse cofounder Bertrand Piccard took off early yesterday morning from New York following in the historic tracks of Charles Lindbergh over the Atlantic Ocean. If successful, Piccard’s transatlantic flight will go down in history as the first conducted without the use of any fuel. Piccard is at the controls of the all-solar-powered Si2. “Lindbergh’s […]

The FAA announced today it has finalized a set of rules for the routine commercial operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) weighing less than 55 pounds, including a provision requiring the operator to obtain a “remote pilot certificate.” Under the new rule, drone pilots must be at least 16 years old and possess such a […]

Charles Bolden says now is the right time to take a serious look at a distributed electric aircraft that, if successful, will create advanced technologies to reduce fuel burn, emissions and aircraft noise. Bolden is administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA’s new X-57 project, nicknamed “Maxwell,” will be the agency’s first dedicated […]

Piper’s M600 single-engine turboprop achieved FAA type certification last week, adding a new model to the Vero Beach, Florida, manufacturer’s lineup that features more power and improved avionics. The $2.853 million M600 features the same Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-42A engine as the Piper M500, but power has been boosted from 500 to 600 shp, […]

Flying Aviation Expo will return once again to beautiful Palm Springs, California, this fall, but with a couple of notable changes. For one, the fly-in event for GA pilots and enthusiasts will take place at a much improved venue from years past: Palm Springs International Airport, where the show will be held inside a 30,000-square-foot […]

Bell Helicopter put its multi-mission 412EPI helicopter to the ultimate test this week near Mount Everest in Nepal. Bell demonstration pilots showed off takeoffs and landings at 15,200 feet, hovered in ground effect at nearly 18,000 feet density altitude and proceeded to climb as high as 20,000 feet pressure altitude in the medium-size helicopter, which […]

The FAA is still struggling to find enough qualified people to staff air traffic control facilities around the country, according to a DOT report released yesterday. Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), called the staffing situation a crisis, claiming controller numbers stand at their lowest level in 27 years. The […]

An Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) composed of both aviation and medical experts, working in conjunction with commercial airlines and pilots’ unions, will strive to create a holistic approach to improving pilot mental health evaluations, in part by encouraging voluntary reporting of pilot mental health issues. “While some conditions automatically disqualify someone from flying, many pilots […]

It was a policy that never made a lick of sense in the first place, and now it’s going away. The FAA yesterday issued a final policy on “non-aeronautical use of hangars” that purges terms like “incidental use” and “insignificant amount of space” from the document. As a result, the FAA will consider the construction […]