Aviation News

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, […]

The British Royal Air Force has halted all non-essential flights of aircraft equipped with the same type of ejection seat as the one involved in the recent death of Flight Lt. Sean Cunningham. The 35-year-old Iraq War Veteran died after being ejected from a Hawk T1, which was reportedly parked at the Red Arrows’ base […]

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 […]