Wed, Oct 04, 2023
FAA Issues NOTAM Warning of GPS Singal Spoofing
Since 15 September 2023, deceptive GPS signals fraudulently transmitted from the ground have coerced upwards of twenty commercial or business aircraft overlying Iran to deviate from their planned routes. The counterfeit signals, which overrode those transmitted legitimately from GPS satellites, impeded the progress of numerous Boeing 737, 747, and 777 airliners.
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Plane-Maker Admits No Liability
Aerospace titan Boeing has agreed to pay $8.1-million to settle federal allegations setting forth the company submitted false claims and made false statements pertaining to the construction of V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft the Arlington, Virginia-based company builds for the U.S. Navy.
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Company Responsibly Addresses Flawed Components
Van’s Aircraft, the famed light-sport aircraft marque and maker of the perennially popular RV6/6A, RV7/7A, and numerous additional kit aircraft models, has published new and updated documents for customers in possession of aircraft kits comprising laser-cut parts. The described customers, on Tuesday, 03 October 2023, were to have received an email containing a link to a newly-established web portal via which they may select requested replacement parts. Van’s has also made available to its customers a series of online documents including a new engineering assessment report the company encourages its customers to read in full.
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Also: Daher Owner Convention, SAF Prices Likely to Remain High, NTSB Hiring, OR CAP Aid
A couple of years ago, new ownership bought the Rotorway helicopter kit operation and rebranded it as Rotor X. Over the course of many months, we received numerous complaints about Rotor X, with reports of dozens of customers who claim to have bought helicopter kits or sub kits not gotten what they paid for. Some have paid in full, with amounts exceeding well in excess of $100,000, and received little or nothing (so far) in return. AOPA has issued a statement that notes, "We are deeply saddened to report that Richard McSpadden, AOPA Senior Vice President, died in an aircraft accident outside Lake Placid, New York, on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinal 177 in which Richard was in the right seat experienced an emergency after takeoff. The airplane attempted to return to the airport but failed to make the runway. United Airlines has launched the United M
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Numerous Reports of Undelivered Kits, Unsent Refunds, and Incomplete Deliveries Abound
News, Information, and Opinion by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief, Jim Campbell
In covering the aviation community for the 50 years (yup, I’m getting old…), since my first articles appeared in sport aviation public publications at the tender age of 16, I have watched many a company come and go, while quite a few products turn out to be not what they were promised… And in some of the cases we've seen, they turned out to be deadly. Thankfully such horrific stories are in the very significant minority, with most of the stories creating dissatisfaction in the aviation community surrounding companies that either bit off more than they could chew, making promises they couldn't keep, getting into trouble businesswise, or just plain out screwing their customers. The biggest problem that we face in starting a story investigating complaints against a company or product, occurs in trying to do the massive amount of due d
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Also: NINTH Generation Helicycle, Van’s Web Portal, EAA AeroEducate, EarthX Batteries
Zenith Aircraft thanked a throng of Zenith owners, pilots, and enthusiasts who participated in the 32nd annual Zenith Aircraft Homecoming. The 15-16 September 2023 grass-roots event was held in and around the company’s Mexico, Missouri factory, and comprised an array of leisure and educational activities that included hands-on workshops, seminars, panel discussions, and even a barbecue banquet. Aero-News Network congratulates Sonex builder Lou Toth, who set a National Aeronautics Association (NAA) speed over a recognized course record in Dreamcicle, his AeroVee powered, tricycle gear, orange-and-white-liveried Sonex The record was set in Class R for Microlights per European standards. The town of Holly Hill, has promulgated an ordinance prohibiting operations of aircraft massing less-than six-hundred-pounds at Holly Hill Airport (5J5). S
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Agency Approves Gogo 5G on Bombardier Challenger 300 Series
Skyservice Business Aviation, in partnership with Gogo Business Aviation has received Supplemental Type Certification (STC) approval from Transport Canada for Gogo’s 5G system aboard Bombardier Challenger 300 series aircraft. The comprehensive Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) STC is available to Challenger 300 operators opting to retrofit their aircraft with Gogo’s AVANCE L5 and the full Gogo 5G provisional kit. U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) STC approval of the Gogo 5G kit is expected presently.
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Also: EarthX Batteries, Air India Official Suspended, Increase ATC Hiring Legislation, JetBlue Aircraft Lased
Congress may not approve a Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) spending bill prior to the Sunday, 01 October deadline. The International Council of Air-Shows (ICAS) has issued an advisory setting forth the imminent closing of the egregiously-abused federal cash-pipeline will likely impact U.S. air-shows slated to take place in October and November 2023. NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, while executing a 16 September 2023 sortie, broke its own Martian altitude record, ascending 66-feet above Mars’s surface. This was the 59th flight, and the craft is well into its 31st month on the Red Planet. A representative of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory set forth in a 19 September X posting: "Ingenuity has set a new record! The #MarsHelicopter successfully completed Flight 59, flying its highest altitude yet—twenty-meters [66 feet].
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Also: Frank Rubio Returns to Earth, Niger v France, Akasa Air Sues Pilots, ALPA Praise
The UK’s CAA has approved a modification protocol by which Magni Gyro’s M24C autogyro may be granted approval for night flight operations. The modification—designated AAN 29276 Addendum 2—comprises the introduction of a dedicated avionics suite, appropriately-adapted instrument panels, and new internal and external lights. So retrofitted, Magni Gyro’s M24C autogyro may be operated, by qualified pilots, under Night VFR conditions. The driver of a semi-truck hauling a reportedly-new $30-million Sikorsky S-92 helicopter failed to adequately contemplate his load’s vertical dimension relative the height of an Interstate 12 overpass in the vicinity of Denham Springs, Louisiana. The DJI drone catalog has been supplemented, most recently, by the company’s introduction of the DJI Mini 4 Pro, a drone DJI asserts has
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Wed, Oct 04, 2023
Also: AOPA VP McSpadden In C177 Crash, Young Eagles Milestone, Air Wisconsin Pilots, ATC Hiring
EAA and Warbirds of America have filed joint comments germane to an NPRM codifying new rules for flight-training in experimental, limited, and primary-category aircraft. The FAA contends the NPRM is intended to re-establish the status-quo prior to a June 2021 court ruling that up-ended longstanding policy pertaining to flight-training in the aforementioned aircraft. The ruling gave rise to a regulatory environment in which owners of experimental aircraft were required to secure Letters Of Deviation Authority (LODAs) to train in their own aircraft. The United Airlines Master Executive Council (MEC), as represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), reported 82-percent of the Chicago-based air-carrier’s pilots had voted in favor of a new comprehensive working agreement surpassing the value of the aviators’ current contract by up
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