Aviation News

Shawn Perry, the 39-year-old pilot and father who was killed along with his three young children and two coworkers when the Turbo Commander in which they were flying slammed into a sheer mountain cliff near Phoenix the night before Thanksgiving, wasn’t flying the airplane when it crashed, according to the NTSB’s preliminary report. Rather, Perry […]

There are new questions surrounding the crash of a Turbo Commander last week, in which six perished when the airplane slammed into the side of a cliff in the Superstition Mountain range just east of Phoenix. The accident has prompted pilots to rethink their approach to flying at night near high terrain. Our suggestion was […]

You may, like me, have been in situations where you were confused about whether you could legally get reimbursed for your flight expenses. If you’re looking for answers, NBAA’s Reimbursement for Flight Expenses for Owner-Pilots Handbook, fresh off the presses, can help. “This guide provides much-needed clarity on the regulations and legal interpretations covering reimbursements […]

Federal immigration officials on Wednesday arrested a Southern California woman accused of helping foreign nationals fraudulently apply for student visas to attend her Los Angeles-area flight school. Karena Chuang, 28, of Lake Elsinore, California, was charged with allegedly orchestrating a scheme that allowed citizens from Egypt, Sri Lanka and Taiwan to enter the U.S. for […]

Ikhana Aircraft Services has received an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate that promises to keep older DHC-6 Twin Otters flying well beyond their design life limits. The California company’s process re-manufactures the DHC-6 fuselage, extending it with an additional 66,000 hours/132,000 cycles of fatigue life. “We are providing an essentially new aircraft with a full useful […]

Yves “Jetman” Rossy, the daredevil who has gained fame with his turbine-powered jet-pack, completed another bold feat last week when he flew in formation with two L-39C Albatros jets from the Breitling Jet Team. Rossy met up with the jets over the Swiss Alps after jumping from a helicopter with his jet-propelled wing strapped to […]

Two runways at the Los Angeles International Airport were shut down yesterday as a result of a winter storm that wreaked havoc in the Los Angeles area. Strong crosswinds and gusts of up to 47 knots were recorded at the airport, tearing down trees and spreading debris on to the runways and streets in nearby […]

(November 2011) Control Malfunctions — failures of the control systems to work properly — are among the most challenging and frightening difficulties that an airplane can present. One feels able to deal with almost any eventuality, as long as the flight controls work the way they should. But an aileron jammed in a hard-over position, […]

A Cirrus SR20 crashed near Chicago on Sunday, claiming the life of the pilot, his two daughters and their friend when the airplane went down in a soybean field under as yet unknown circumstances. The pilot, Ray Harris of Marion, is shown on the FAA airman registry database as being a private pilot. No instrument […]

It was an accident waiting to happen, say local pilots. The crash of a Turbo Commander in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains on Thanksgiving Eve is reigniting debate over a controversial 2007 redesign of the airspace surrounding Phoenix that many say jeopardizes safety. Video footage purporting to capture the accident as it happened shows the airplane flying […]