Aviation News

With the recent announcement by the FAA that it was slowing the process of designating official testing sites for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in part over privacy concerns, the organization that represents drone makers has a blunt message for the FAA that is perhaps best translated as, “Do your job.” The Association for Unmanned Vehicle […]

Just a day after achieving the first flight of the midsize Legacy 500, Embraer marked another milestone on Wednesday as it broke ground on the company’s new Engineering and Technology Center in Melbourne, Florida. The center will be the latest addition to Embraer’s growing presence in the United States and will complement the company’s existing […]

A British company called Reaction Engines Ltd.(REL) has accomplished what it calls “the biggest breakthrough in aerospace propulsion technology since the invention of the jet engine.” REL is in the process of developing an engine called SABRE (Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine), which the company claims will be capable of flight from zero speed on the […]

More than a dozen years after the July 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde supersonic transport (SST) outside Paris, a French court will decide today whether to uphold a manslaughter conviction against Continental Airlines. The original ruling, which was appealed, held that a Continental mechanic improperly attached a metal strip to one of the […]

Embraer affirmed its commitment to become a major force in business jet manufacturing with the first flight on Tuesday of the Legacy 500, a clean-sheet midsize model that is capable of flying 3,000 nm, cruising at Mach 0.82 and climbing direct to 45,000 feet. Embraer said the fly-by-wire Legacy 500 made a “flawless” first flight, […]

Earlier this year, we reported that Cessna entered into a strategic agreement with CAIGA (China Aviation Industry General Aircraft), a subsidiary of AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China), to sell, assemble and support the Cessna Caravan in Shijiazhuang, China. The agreement has now developed into a contract for a joint venture company, which in addition […]

Those of you who live in deer country know all about deer whistles, those little devices you attach to the bumper of your vehicle that emit a high-pitched tone intended to let deer know to steer clear of your bumper. The only thing certain about deer whistles is that they have a perfect track record […]

Avidyne announced today that a date has been set in February 2013 for a jury trial in its patent dispute with L-3 Communications Avionics Systems. Avidyne President and CEO Dan Schwinn argues the L-3 lawsuit is without merit, explaining, “L-3 claims it invented a basic method of calibrating an attitude indicator to correct for the […]

In its fourth review of the 30-year-old Federal Contract Tower (FCT) program, the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General found the outsourced towers both less expensive and safer than those staffed by FAA controllers. On average, an FCT tower costs $1.5 million less than a comparable FAA tower, according to the report. Those […]

Wingsuit pilot Alexander Polli says that he wants to be surrounded by people with a passion for life. For many people, his passion pushes the envelope of sanity. In this video Polli speaks about the project he came up with to slalom down a sheer cliff face thousands of feet high at 10 feet agl […]