Aviation News

On the YouTube video, you hear the distinctive whine of a turboprop engine spooling up. But the sight picture doesn’t match up. Isn’t that a 1948 Luscombe 8E? The extended nose is the tipoff that this is no piston-slapping flivver of an airplane. And then, it backs up on the ramp. This turboprop-powered Luscombe is […]

Halloween was particularly scary this year for airport advocates in Southern California. In a major blow against the Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO), which for decades has been fighting a tough battle to stay in operation long term, the City of Santa Monica filed a lawsuit against the FAA on October 31 in an attempt […]

The odds of Cessna reclaiming its spot as the maker of the fastest civilian airplane just grew stronger. While Gulfstream one-upped the Wichita-based company when its Mach 0.925 G650 business jet was brought to market last year, Cessna announced last week that it has proven the promised performance capabilities of the Citation X speedster to […]

Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works has revealed plans for a new hypersonic spy plane that would be capable of flying at Mach 6, making it the fastest airplane ever and obviating the need for stealth technology because nothing on the planet would be capable of catching it. Designed as a replacement for the super-speedy SR-71 […]

At its NBAA Convention press conference last week, Cessna showed video of its Scorpion light attack jet undergoing ejection seat testing. It’s explosive footage. As I reported on my Twitter feed (@robertgoyer), Cessna plans to fly the Scorpion this year, a remarkably ambitious production schedule, and testing the seats is a critical step along that […]

The bizarre fatal crash of a Cessna 172 at Nashville International Airport (KBNA) on Tuesday that went undetected for up to six hours took another strange turn when the pilot turned out to be a convicted Canadian bank robber. The 172 apparently crashed sometime after 2:45 a.m. in dense fog with 45-year-old Michael Callan at […]

The FAA today announced that airlines may now permit the use of passengers’ personal electronic devices during all phases of flight, including takeoff and landing. The FAA said it based its decision on input from a group of experts that included representatives from the airlines, aviation manufacturers, passengers, pilots, flight attendants, and the mobile technology […]

Dee Welch is a Super Cub pilot, a skilled woodworker and a member of both the Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA) and the Flying Musicians Association (FMA). Somehow he connected all those dots and figured an old wing spar would make an exceptional soundboard for a guitar. And now the resulting instrument is being raffled off […]

Embraer intends to expand its Melbourne, Florida, factory to include an assembly line for the Legacy 450 and 500 midsize fly-by-wire business jets currently in development. While the details of the expansion still need to be approved by local and state officials, the Brazilian jet maker said it hopes to open the new facility as […]

Of all the jump planes used for sport parachuting, a Gulfstream GV is probably not the first to come to mind. But the Drake Group, an engineering firm based in Las Vegas, has completed a Supplemental Type Certificate to do just that. The approval covers single and tandem jumping, as well as cargo parachutes for […]