Aviation News

Beechcraft celebrated this week as the production version of the new AT-6 Texan II light attack airplane completed its first flight in Wichita. “It flies beautifully,” Lionel Alford, one of the test pilots of the inaugural flight, said after the successful mission. “This achievement highlights the tremendous effort of the entire Beechcraft team involved in […]

An Ohio couple that was visiting family in Kansas City died this week shortly after departing the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport near downtown Kansas City, Missouri, in their single-engine Mooney. Lynn Lundsford from the FAA said the pilot had reported “an undisclosed problem” after lifting off and had been “cleared by the controllers to […]

Van’s builders have been practically begging BRS Aerospace to offer its whole-airframe emergency recovery parachutes for the lineup of popular homebuilts – and now BRS has delivered by making the rocket-fired chutes available for the Van’s RV-7 and RV-9. It took some creative engineering to add a parachute to the RV models, but the company […]

The doors to Clearwater, Florida-based Avantair are locked to everyone except a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee after a judge this week ordered an involuntary Chapter 7 filing as the first step in liquidating the troubled company. The bankrupt fractional ownership firm failed to meet a deadline last week to contest the Chapter 7 action as concerns […]

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has named a newcomer as president and CEO to replace Craig Fuller. Mark Baker, a longtime executive in the home improvement industry and 7,500-hour pilot, will take the reins on September 6. Baker, who is a native of Minnesota and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, emerged in […]

It’s been nearly three decades since William Suitor, aka Rocketman, wowed about 2.5 billion viewers around the world when he took off with his rocket belt over the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. And it was around the same time that inventor Glenn Martin, the founder of Martin Aircraft Company […]

The pilot of a Bradley BA100 light sport aircraft carefully checked the GoPro cameras mounted on the exterior of his airplane. With video rolling, he took off from Skylark Airport in Killeen, Texas, but shortly after passing the departure end of the 5,495-foot runway, his engine lost power. The video shows a slight right turn […]

In response to a petition filed by EAA in the spring of 2012, the FAA recently granted a partial exemption from sections of 14 CFR 61.113, allowing pilots to receive compensation for flights under the EAA Eagle Flight and Young Eagles programs. While the petition included sport and recreational pilots, the FAA exemption applies only […]

Garmin announced today it has added sport video to its product line with the VIRB and VIRB Elite waterproof cameras. The HD 1080p units are protected by their own IPX-7 housing, requiring no cases to withstand the elements (they were tested for immersion in one meter of water for 30 minutes). An optional case is […]

An Air Force B-1 bomber crashed in a remote area of southeastern Montana on Monday moments after its four crew members safely ejected, officials said. Two pilots and two weapons system officers were aboard the B-1 before it crashed at about 9:30 a.m. near Broadus, Montana. All four were transported to two South Dakota hospitals, […]