Aviation News

The Air Force has selected Diamond Aircraft to provide the aircraft and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to provide instruction for an initial training program for cadets at its Colorado Springs Academy. Under the terms of the contract, the Academy will lease a fleet of specially modified Continental-powered Diamond DA-20C1s. The fleet will start out at 14 […]

On the morning of a late fall day in 2000, a Utah rancher took up two passengers in his Cessna 175 to search for stray cattle. It was part of the fall roundup, an “annual event looked upon with anticipation by many.” After spotting a few head, they flew toward a bluff where several cowboys […]

Roy LoPresti, never at a loss for innovative designs, has joined Larry Gordon in forming the LoPresti Gordon VTOL (LoGo) company to help develop a pair of vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, the Guardian and the TurboHawk. The Guardian, an “inclined thrust angle aircraft” (ITAAC-“eye tac”), designed to require no configuration change to transition between […]

For 2003 Cirrus Design is upgrading its SR20 to an all-electric airplane. According to Alan Klapmeier, president of Cirrus, the change will eliminate the vacuum pump and put the airplane in a better position to take advantage of advanced avionics. The electrical system is a single alternator (dual alternators are optional), dual battery/dual bus fault-tolerant […]

A 337 breaks up and rains down from 27,000 feet. Amazingly, the right seat passenger lives to tell how it happened.

Early every year the National Aeronautic Association recognizes some of the most memorable flights of the previous year, and 2001 had a number of unusual and exceptional flights to note. Interestingly, two of the flights that made the list for 2001 were made by aircraft without a pilot onboard. The solar-powered AeroVironment Pathfinder I, or […]

The National Aeronautic Association has named as winner of the prestigious Collier Trophy the integrated lift fan propulsion system (ILFPS) that makes possible the short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The STOVL JSF, which will be flown by the United States Marines, is one of a number of […]

A security system that uses biometrics embedded in an identification smart card has begun beta testing at FlightSafety International’s training academy in Vero Beach, Florida. Sponsored by the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) and dubbed the National Air Transportation Security Identification System, the system uses a “SkyGuard” card that contains a 16K computer chip that […]

||| |—|—| | | | The FAA proposed the broadest changes to existing pilot and light plane certification standards in decades, when it published its proposal for the new Light-Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft rules. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published in late January. The public has 90 days to comment on it […]