News

Being on a waiting list for hangar space doesn’t do your aircraft any good while it’s sitting out on the ramp exposed to the elements. Finding indoor space is particularly difficult when your airplane is 75 feet long and has a 103-foot wingspan. Members of the Gulf Coast Wing of the Commemorative Air Force know […]

NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) recently marked its 30-year anniversary. The confidential reporting system is widely used by pilots to identify potential safety hazards. Established under a memorandum of understanding between NASA and the FAA, the system collects, analyzes and responds to voluntarily submitted aviation safety incident reports to reduce accidents and improve safety. […]

An innovative engine being watched with eager anticipation by pilots and airframe manufacturers has been scrapped by Rotax, a division of Bombardier Recreational Products. The liquid cooled REV V-6 will reach certification this month, according to a BRP-Rotax statement, but will not be manufactured and marketed. Neither is the technology for sale, said Luc de […]

AmSafe, Inc., a provider of restraint products to the aviation markets, has confirmed the successful deployment of its AmSafe Aviation Inflatable Restraint system, which saved five lives in three separate accidents in the last four months. The accidents occurred in Wisconsin, Switzerland and Brazil. The restraint system is built directly into the seatbelts so that […]

The FAA finally has taken notice of the potential problems posed by ethanol to users of automobile gasoline in airplanes. The Experimental Aircraft Association and many aviation publications, including this one, have been warning pilots flying on ‘mogas’ about the hazards of ethanol – a form of alcohol – for several years. In a Special […]

Kirby Chambliss won the Red Bull Air Race World Series, despite finishing third in the final race in Australia. Chambliss went into the race with 34 points, well ahead of his rivals. He ended the series with 38 points. Hungarian pilot Peter Besenyei claimed victory in the final leg of the competition as 300,000 spectators […]

Retired Air Force General Jacob E. Smart died Nov. 12 at his home in Ridgeland, S.C. He was 97. Smart planned the audacious low-level raid on Romania’s Ploesti oil fields and refineries during World War II. A third of Nazi Germany’s oil was produced and refined at the Ploesti fields. The legendary raid was flown […]

A record-setting 13,000 attendees, and 2,550 aircraft, flew in for this year’s AOPA Expo in Palm Springs.

Retired Navy Capt. Edward A. Davis, who was 67, died Nov. 7 of pancreatic cancer near his home in Lancaster, Pa. Davis was a North Vietnam prisoner of war for 7-1/2 years. After retirement he became an outstanding motivational speaker, focusing on management under difficult circumstances – a subject he knew well. Davis had flown […]