Aviation News

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX completed an impressive precision flight on Tuesday with the Falcon 9 rocket, also called the Grasshopper. In what SpaceX referred to as a divert test, the rocket climbed to an altitude of about 800 feet, then moved about 300 feet laterally before making a picture perfect landing at the center of its […]

Dover Air Force Base has reported that a Cessna 172 based at its Aero Club in Dover, Delaware, made an emergency landing, coming to a halt on a four-lane highway. Pictures indicate that the Cessna sustained damage to the outboard portion of the left wing and the left horizontal stabilizer, at minimum. However, according to […]

A UPS Airbus A300-600F crashed into a grassy rise about a half mile short of the runway at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) early Wednesday morning, killing both pilots and leaving a fiery debris path stretching nearly 1,000 feet. There was no distress call from the crew of the cargo plane prior to the crash, […]

NTSB investigators are narrowing in on reports that the Rockwell Turbo Commander 690B that crashed while attempting to land in rainy weather at Connecticut’s Tweed-New Haven Airport rolled inverted before descending vertically into homes. The pilot, retired Microsoft vice president Bill Henningsgaard, asked New Haven Tower for a straight-in landing as he flew an instrument […]

Asiana Airlines is offering $10,000 to each surviving passenger aboard Flight 214, which crashed on approach to San Francisco International Airport in July. The money is being made available to all 288 surviving passengers, including those who received no injuries as a result of the accident. According to Asiana spokespeople, the money is being given […]

On August 8 at around 5:30 p.m. local time Key West Seaplanes pilots (and co-owners) Julie Ann Floyd and Nikali Pontecorvo were ferrying one of their pontoon-equipped Cessnas from Key West to Miami when they heard a distress call. An unidentified pilot was having engine trouble in the vicinity of Key Largo and wasn’t sure […]

Dual Electronics’ XGPS170 combination GPS/ADS-B receiver is now compatible with WSI’s Pilotbrief Optima iPad app. WSI’s app, available through the Apple iTunes store or at wsi.com/pilotbrief, provides what the company describes as “professional-grade weather services at a private pilot price.” It also incorporates charts and flight-planning software. Adding ADS-B via the Bluetooth connection on the […]

Sporty’s has released a new and completely revamped version of its E6B app for the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone, including the iPhone 5. The new version includes the same features as the electronic E6B that is available from Sporty’s Pilot Shop. The app includes 22 aviation functions, conversions for 10 different parameters and some […]

As a result of multiple cases of cylinder head cracks and cylinder head-to-barrel separations related to cylinder assemblies supplied by Engine Components International (ECi) in Continental engines, the FAA has proposed an airworthiness directive that could cost aircraft owners big money. The affected engines include Continental’s IO-520, TSIO-520, IO-550 and IOF-550 among others — engines […]

On a Sunday morning in March a 150-hour private pilot, 61 years old, and his wife went for a short flight in a rented Cherokee Warrior. It was a nice blue-sky day. The nearest weather reporting point, 20 miles to the south, was calling the visibility 10 miles — which meant, for all practical purposes, […]