The pilot’s improper recovery from a bounced landing.
Aviation Week Laureate Awards winners named
Aviation Week has named the winners of its 52nd Annual Laureate Awards, recognizing exceptional strategy, heroism or leadership in aviation, aerospace and defense. The Laureate honorees have improved their organizations, championed new technologies, and changed aviation history, the publication stated. The Laureate Awards were held March 3 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, […]
‘Nanostitching’ could strengthen airplane skins, says MIT
MIT engineers are using carbon nanotubes only billionths of a meter thick to stitch together aerospace materials, in work that could make airplane skins some ten times stronger at a nominal increase in cost, according to a March 4 news release from the institute. Advanced composites reinforced with nanotubes also are more than one million […]
FAA clarifies its meaning of ‘current’
FAR 91.409(f)(3) requires aircraft owners and operators to maintain their aircraft in accordance with a “current inspection program recommended by the manufacturer.” In a recent interpretation, an FAA attorney stated that owners and operators are not legally obligated to adhere to the most recent updates to maintenance instructions or inspection programs. Only the maintenance requirements […]
FAA has no plan to ground Eclipse fleet
Addressing the question of what happens when a manufacturer goes bankrupt, the FAA has issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-09-14 examining support issues for the 259 Eclipse 500 very light jets in the field. A March 4 hearing was expected to include a decision on the petition filed last week to move the Eclipse bankruptcy […]
FAA gets unanimous opposition to LASP
An FAA spokeswoman says it’s too early to speculate on the future of the Large Aircraft Security Program, although it drew more than 4,000 responses during its 120-day public comment period. “We’ve just embarked on the review process,” said Lauren Gaches during an interview with Stephanie Mlot of the Frederick News-Post in Maryland. “Our goal […]
Upgrades may qualify for bonus depreciation
Officials in Cessna Aircraft Co.‘s Customer Service organization reported this week that enhancements made to Cessna business aircraft in 2009 may qualify for the new bonus depreciation tax treatment included in the recent federal stimulus legislation, depending on the tax accounting treatment a company uses for the upgrade. “As long as the upgrade adds value […]
Jetpack maker appoints CEO
Jetpack maker Martin Aircraft Co. has appointed a new chief executive officer. The new CEO is Richard Lauder, an early investor in the New Zealand-based company. He was executive chairman of Excell Corp. Lauder’s main goal will be to raise around $20 million for the company, likely from private investors. The company recently got a […]
Museum celebrates women in aviation
In honor of Women in Aviation day, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, has invited Col. Virginia Thompson and aviation artist Sharon Rajnus to speak on Saturday, March 7. Thompson, who joined the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in 1968, was the first female commander of a wing in the CAP’s Pacific Region, […]