Aviation News

Hawker Beechcraft reported a loss of $42.2 million in the third quarter, but that was actually a big improvement over last year, when the Wichita aircraft maker lost $81.4 million in the same period. Overall sales were down, totaling $518.8 million in this year’s third quarter compared with $594.7 million during the same period last […]

Flight training providers offering FAA-approved Flight Instructor Refresher Course (FIRC) programs will need to make modifications to their courses as a result of a recently updated advisory circular (AC 61-83G). The new 33-page AC includes modified guidelines on how to develop training course outlines (TCO) and updates some of the core topics that must be […]

NBAA reported this week that the TSA is expected to release a new proposed security program for business aviation airplanes. The new proposal is expected to be significantly different from the large aircraft security program (LASP), which was proposed in 2008 and highly criticized by federal, state and local government officials as well as general […]

Add China to the list of nations conducting biofuel demonstration flights, as Air China prepares to fly a Boeing 747-400 by the end of November using a blend of conventional and hydrotreated renewable jet fuel. The flight is part of a broader agreement with Air China, PetroChina, Boeing and Honeywell to use fuel derived from […]

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner lifted off on Wednesday for the first time with paying passengers on board, marking a milestone many years in the making for the world’s first “plastic” airliner. The jet, owned and operated by All Nippon Airways, carried 240 passengers from Hong Kong to Tokyo, a trip that some passengers paid as […]

After what it calls “six quarters of mostly positive news,” aviation market research firm Amstat reported on Wednesday that the third quarter of 2011 was a disappointing one for jet sales. The firm reported that the existing inventory of used business jets, considered a key marker for economic energy in the business aviation sector, had […]

In a bipartisan vote on Monday, the U.S. House rejected the European Union’s plan to enact a carbon tax on commercial and general aviation aircraft flying over or landing in EU territory. The bill prevents all U.S. airlines and general aviation operators from participating in the EU tax program, scheduled to take effect at the […]

In an effort to combat the growing problem of lasers being pointed at aircraft, where they can affect the pilots’ vision, the FAA has created a new website to make it easier for aviators and the public to report laser incidents. The website includes links for reporting laser incidents as well as a database of […]

A manned version of the X-37B space plane could be in the works, according to a paper recently delivered by Arthur Grantz, chief engineer of Space and Intelligence Systems’ Experimental Systems Group at Boeing. The paper describes the proposed space plane, called X-37C, as a vehicle that would be approximately twice the size of the […]

One of the little reported on details of the iPhone 4S is that the new smart phone includes a pair of global satellite navigation receiver chips in the device, one for GPS and one for Glonass, Russia’s own satellite-based navigation system. First launched in the 1970s, Glonass was a response to our own nascent Global […]