Aviation News

The fight against the third class medical requirement has taken a new turn. Republican Congressmen Todd Rokita and Sam Graves introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow private pilots who meet certain requirements to legally fly with a valid driver’s license instead of a third class medical certificate. While pilots […]

Fresh on the heels of reports that partner Brad Pitt has bought himself a Spitfire, actress-pilot Angelina Jolie’s name splashed across page 6 of the New York Post with an aviation-related story. “Angelina’s Plane Grounded by the FAA” was the headline. Lurid as that sounds, it appears to be no more than a complex paperwork […]

The Asiana Airlines training captain who crashed a Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport in July was anxious about the visual approach, which he described as “very stressful,” according to investigators. Capt. Lee Kang Kuk, an eight-year employee of Asiana on his first extended trip flying the 777, also told investigators he was confused […]

The FAA is telling Aviation Medical Examiners to disregard, for now, the controversial obstructive sleep apnea policy introduced last month in a medical bulletin. In a memo to AMEs, the agency instructs physicians not to include body mass index calculations as part of airman medical examinations, at least not yet. The about-face comes after Congress […]

The Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds are back. Their sequestration-driven hiatus from public performances is over, and the first performance will be a T-birds fly-over during the Tournament of Roses parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California. The Blue Angels will perform 68 demonstrations in 34 locations in 2014; and the […]

A family of three was killed over the weekend in a Cessna 310 crash near Jacksonville, Florida. The preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report indicates that the crash occurred at 6:21 p.m. on Sunday while the twin was flying in night IMC on a missed approach out of the Jacksonville Executive Airport (KCRG). The airplane […]

London’s Daily Mail newspaper has reported that actor Brad Pitt, 49, has acquired a Supermarine Spitfire for £2 million ($3.3 million), and will learn to fly it at the Boultbee Flight Academy in Oxford, U.K. The paper offered no information on who the seller is, nor what model Spitfire Pitt has bought. The actor is […]

Textron, the parent company of Cessna, is moving fast on the development of its sexy straight-wing military twinjet, the Scorpion, which surprised the world with its emergence earlier this year. As evidenced by the following video, Scorpion test pilots have completed the first taxi tests and are getting close to taking the airplane to the […]

Scores of classic cars, boats and airplanes recently descended on Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida, for the 19th annual Vintage Weekend, an event that celebrates immaculately preserved machines of past eras. The event drew countless rare conveyances in every category, making Ocean Reef an antique-lover’s paradise for the four-day long experience. Some of […]

American Airlines emerged from bankruptcy protection on Monday as it officially merged with US Airways to create the world’s biggest airline. Concluded after 10 turbulent months that included an antitrust lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, the merger creates an airline even larger than the industry saw with the coming together of United and […]