Aviation News

Though it probably doesn’t have much bearing on aviation’s fortunes in the rest of the world, this week’s Dubai Airshow in the United Arab Emirates has gotten off to a rousing start, marked by a buying bonanza among Middle Eastern airlines as Boeing and Airbus each reaped massive sales. Qatar Airways made the biggest splash […]

Famed US Airways captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is in the spotlight once again as he prepares to return to the controls and head to Charlotte, North Carolina, this time in a vintage DC-7B. The Miracle on the Hudson captain and copilot Jeff Skiles will each take turns at the helm of the restored airliner next […]

It apparently isn’t enough for Boeing to be building the airplanes that the next generation of airline pilots will be flying. The airliner maker now plans to train the pilots who fly those airplanes as well. At least it seems that way. In truth, Boeing has been offering training for years, through its Boeing Flight […]

Hawker Beechcraft‘s Global Customer Support (GCS) has expanded its XPR upgrade program for the Hawker 400 and 800. The program, which was previously exclusive to airframe owners, provides a factory completed option for customers interested in purchasing an airplane and upgrading it with the XPR components and other upgrades. GCS will assist those customers in […]

After a one-year hiatus of the Red Bull Air Race World Championships, officials say the much-anticipated event won’t be held in 2012 either. The organization behind the event called for the one-year break in 2010, citing, among other reasons, the need to “further improve the already high levels of safety” surrounding the Championship. That one-year […]

Company founder Frank Robinson made a point of showing up at the Torrance, California, factory he built for the ceremonial delivery of Robinson helicopter number 10,000, an R44 that was delivered to Brazilian dealer Audi Helicopters. During the ceremony, Robinson spoke to attendees, telling them with pride that his company did it on its own […]

A Middle Eastern financial firm has thrown a lifeline to cash-starved Diamond Aircraft in a deal that not only saves the company from potentially going out of business but also allows it to proceed with development of its D-Jet, a five-seat, single-engine VLJ. Medrar Financial Group in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, snapped up a majority […]

A single-engine accident in Florida recently in which two people died shortly after takeoff reminded me of another high-performance single-engine airplane accident that happened at Santa Monica airport in 2009. A SIAI-Marchetti SF-260C crashed onto the runway shortly after taking off, killing two people onboard. I’m not suggesting that the cause of the accidents were […]

When we reported that the glitch in Apple’s recent iOS update (version 5) had the potential to delete data files and even whole applications, both aviation and others, it turned out we were wrong on at least one count. Jeppesen, in a customer advisory on its web site, made it clear that its app program […]

On Tuesday Redbird Flight Simulations took the next step on its meteoric growth in the GA market by cutting the ribbon on Skyport, a hybrid aviation business based in San Marcos, Texas (KHYI). The town is roughly halfway between Austin and San Antonio. The facility, which Redbird founder Jerry Gregoire refers to as a laboratory, […]