Aviation News

Cessna Aircraft Company has designated a Citation Mustang named American Patriot to fly missions for the Veterans Airlift Command (VAC) – a non-profit organization that organizes volunteer aircraft owners and pilots to provide free transportation to wounded veterans and their families. The Mustang’s first mission is being flown today [November 10], transporting two veterans from […]

Two U.S. airlines this week flew commercial flights powered by biofuel blends, continuing a trend that not only has raised the profile of renewable fuel sources but also appears to be gaining real traction with commercial carriers. United Airlines flew its first biofuel-powered commercial flight from Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport to Chicago O’Hare on Monday. […]

Cirrus Aircraft reported a modest turnaround in third quarter, announcing it built 68 new airplanes in the period, seven more than during the third quarter of 2010. Only 48 of these were included in the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s third quarter industry report, released on Monday, but Cirrus said an additional 20 uncounted aircraft rolled […]

The U.S. Senate moved to reinstate the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program last week with an appropriations bill that passed by a 69-30 vote, heating up a fight that began earlier this year after the FAA announced plans to restrict the program. The bill prohibits the appropriated funds from being used to limit participation […]

In the past month or so, some iPad users have reported deleted charts and apps when attempting to use aviation apps in flight as a result of Apple’s iOS 5 update, which manages memory overages by deleting files and apps seemingly at random. Apple is known to be working on iOS release 5.0.1, which is […]

Days after setting up a website to allow the public to report instances of lasers being pointed at aircraft in flight, the FAA is urging witnesses to contact police after someone pointed a green laser at six airliners on approach to New York LaGuardia Airport over the weekend. The laser was shined from a point […]

The world’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which started carrying paying passengers only last month with Japan’s All Nippon Airways, ran into its first technical glitch on Sunday when the landing gear failed to deploy. The 787’s pilots manually lowered the gear, after which the airplane landed safely in Okayama, Japan, after flying from Tokyo, according […]

Piper Aircraft on Monday reported better delivery and revenue numbers during the third quarter of 2011 than the company did one year ago, based in part on stronger Piper M-class aircraft deliveries. The company’s revenue jumped more than 25 percent this year compared to 2010, rising from $28.1 million to $35.3 million. According to Piper […]

Manufacturers of piston-powered light singles and twins delivered 190 airplanes in this year’s third quarter (157 singles and 33 twins), a 9.1 percent decline from the 209 piston airplanes delivered in the same period last year. Total piston shipments so far this year are down 8.8 percent compared with last year’s numbers, the fourth year […]

(November 2011) “Safety management system” — the very name sounds intimidating. I have to admit that I was not initially excited about the idea of a safety management system. I figured it was just another complicated set of rules, procedures and acronyms that would require a lot of time while not really accomplishing anything significant. […]