Aviation News

As the Senate continues to hone its version of a long-term FAA spending bill, the issue of ATC privatization being pushed by some members in the House threatens to delay legislation that includes many provisions GA leaders are eager to see adopted. The House passed a short-term extension that funds the FAA through July 15, […]

A pothole measuring 8 feet by 2 feet appeared on Runway 13-31 at LaGuardia Airport yesterday, leaving just one open runway and bottlenecking departing and arriving flights for over an hour. Around 3 p.m., a pilot on a departing flight from LGA reported the damage. On air traffic control recordings, the pilot is heard telling […]

Airshow great Stan Segalla, best known for his comedy routine as “The Flying Farmer” at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Upstate New York and other airshows around the Northeast, has died at 91. A World War II vet, Segalla was a star attraction at Rhinebeck for many years before retiring for good in 2008. His […]

Two years after Bell Helicopter announced the 505 Jet Ranger X, the company has made progress toward the certification of the five-seat light single-engine helicopter. Five hundred seventy-five hours of flight testing have been completed on three test platforms since the first flight in November 2014, and Bell Helicopter expects certification by the end of […]

The Solar Impulse team is hard at work in Hawaii preparing the all-solar-powered Si2 for its continued journey around the world. The ambitious trip, which started last spring in Abu Dhabi, was cut short in July following a record-breaking five-day, nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Hawaii, which put so much stress […]

The Senate has introduced a bill that scraps a House plan to privatize ATC but includes lots of other provisions, including third-class medical reform, new aircraft certification rules and a requirement that UAV pilots pass a written exam covering aviation regulations. The bill’s third-class medical reform language is being championed by AOPA and the Experimental […]

After years of what has appeared to be a lot of talk and little action, the FAA has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for new certification rules to replace the current Part 23 regulations. If adopted, the new rules would apply to aircraft with a max seating capacity of 19 passengers and a […]

Almost exactly two years after AgustaWestland unveiled the AW109 Trekker at the 2014 Heli-Expo in Anaheim, California, the helicopter has made its first flight. The inaugural flight was successfully completed at the Finmeccanica helicopter division in Cascina Costa, Italy. Test pilots Giuseppe Afruni and Giuseppe Segreto took the controls of the Trekker and tested the […]

Piper Meridian and M500 owners can now shave some weight from their airplanes and improve performance by switching to a Hartzell composite propeller. Hartzell has achieved an STC for a five-blade propeller designed specifically for these Piper models. The weight savings with the five-blade composite propeller over the aluminum four-blade prop that comes standard with […]

General aviation pilots must upgrade for the FAA’s ADS-B mandate by Jan. 1, 2020, but the U.S. Air Force says it won’t be able to equip all of its airplanes with the capability by the deadline. Maybe it will be fully ready by 2028. And some of its planes, Air Force officials say, might never […]