Aviation News

Cadets from the Civil Air Patrol have achieved a new world record, bringing a paper airplane to the edge of space. The Fox Valley Composite Squadron of CAP’s Illinois Wing launched a FVCS-5 near-space balloon on Saturday, towing a bright orange paper airplane from the Kankakee Airport (3KK) in Kankakee, Illinois, to 96,537 feet. At […]

General aviation accidents showed a welcome decline in 2013, falling from 1,471 crashes in 2012 to 1,222 last year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. In fact, by every measure GA flying was safer last year than the year before. The accident rate per 100,000 flight hours dipped to 5.85, continuing a steady historic […]

Doc’s Friends, the Wichita-based nonprofit organization that is restoring the B-29 Superfortress Doc to flying condition, says the historic airplane will be ready to fly as soon as the avionics, fuel tanks and a few other last remaining items are finished. The goal is to get the airplane back in the air by the end […]

The 2014 edition of the National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport west of Reno, Nevada, concluded this weekend. While many of the usual suspects, such as Strega, Voodoo, Precious Metal and Czech Mate, competed in the Unlimited Class, which features the fastest airplanes in the competition, this year’s race provided a lot of […]

Channel Islands Aviation’s (CIA) flight school in Camarillo, California, has partnered with the Santa Barbara Business College (SBBC) to offer an accredited Associate of Science in Aviation degree program. Students will receive college credit for flight training received at CIA. The ground school portions and general education courses required for the degree are offered through […]

The U.S. Navy has identified Lt. Nathan Poloski, a 26-year-old from Lake Arrowhead, California, as the pilot who was presumed killed in a collision between two F/A-18C Hornets over the Pacific Ocean on September 15. Poloski was declared presumed deceased after the two Hornets collided during a routine flight off the USS Carl Vinson, the […]

Winter storms approach southern California from the Gulf of Alaska, the low center descending off the Pacific coast and then swinging inland to spend itself in Arizona and New Mexico. When the low is abeam Los Angeles southwest winds race across the coastal plain, leap over the San Gabriel Mountains and tumble head over heels, […]

If you’re an experienced pilot with a sparkling personality and a burning desire to star in your own reality TV series, read on. The producers of “Air Fare America,” a new travel show in development for cable TV, announced they are now casting for the show’s star. The series seeks to combine three of television’s […]

AOPA says a study released by the National Transportation Safety Board this week on pilot drug use is “incomplete and its conclusions should be regarded with caution.” The study of more than 6,600 cases reviewed toxicology tests performed on pilots killed in aviation accidents from 1990 through 2012. In it the NTSB concluded that drug […]

Initiatives within the helicopter community to reduce accidents appear to have yielded positive results. The United States Helicopter Safety Team (USHST), an organization made up of representatives from government agencies, industry groups, OEMs and flight schools, has published statistics that show a dramatic decrease in helicopter accident rates in the past 10 years. The statistics […]