Aviation News

A Fairfax, Virginia, judge has dismissed drunk driving charges filed late last year against former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt after ruling that patrol car video appeared to contradict the arresting officer’s original report. Babbitt was arrested on December 3 in Fairfax after police said his car was spotted crossing the double yellow lines and driving […]

Evelyn “Mama Bird” Johnson, a flight instructor and designated FAA examiner who has been credited as having accumulated more hours than any other woman to date, died on May 10 at the age of 102. Johnson was instructing and giving flight exams into her late 90s and accumulated a total of 57,635.4 hours during her […]

On the heels of Pipistrel’s four-seat Panthera announcement about a month ago, the Slovenian airplane manufacturer has introduced a new LSA – the Pipistrel Alpha Trainer. The airplane was designed specifically for the rugged training environment, with stronger landing gear and a steerable nosewheel set lower compared with Pipistrel’s previous LSA offerings to improve the […]

A Polish oil worker surveying a remote area in Western Egypt recently stumbled upon a surprising find: The remains of a Kittyhawk P-40 that crash-landed in the Sahara Desert seven decades ago. Time and the elements have taken their toll on the aircraft, but aside from some corrosion, as well as damage likely sustained during […]

On Monday at EBACE, Bombardier moved decisively in the direction of investing in the future when it launched greatly upgraded versions of its Learjet 40 and 45 light jets, which it rebranded the Learjet 70 and Learjet 75. The new designations underscore the magnitude of the changes to the models, as well as going nicely […]

On a remarkably newsworthy opening day at European business aviation show Ebace, Cessna unveiled a clean-sheet, long-range design, the Citation Longitude. The airplane, which the company plans to certify by 2017, will feature the same clean-sheet fuselage cross section as the smaller Latitude, which Cessna launched last fall. The new airplane will be much larger […]

All 16 passengers and crew aboard a helicopter that ditched in the North Sea on Thursday have been rescued, according to Coast Guard officials. The incident, which happened about 25 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland, involved a Bond EC 225 Super Puma that was transporting offshore oil workers to two North Sea rigs. According to […]

Dennis “Denny” Fitch, a United pilot and training check airman who was credited with helping save the lives of 184 people as United Flight 232 crashed in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989, has died at the age of 69. Fitch was a passenger on the ill-fated United flight, scheduled to fly from Denver to Chicago. […]

When it comes to aircraft modifications, things happen in Alaska that don’t happen in the lower 48. Here is one of those things, a Super Cub with at least a few mods from the look of it, the most noticeable of which is a very long landing gear extension. Now, what exactly is the reason […]

The Hawker 400XPR engine test article made a successful first flight this week, paving the way for certification of the upgraded jet this September, Hawker Beechcraft announced. The dual Williams International FJ44-4A-32 engines slated to power the new 400XPR – announced last year – will provide 470 pounds of additional combined thrust over that provided […]