As Pilot Retention Gains Importance, Low-Time Pilots Have a Chance to Make Some Hay

Envoy is sweetening the deal for new hire pilots, offering up to $100,000 of bonus money for those with the kind of logbook the airline is looking for. For those pilots who receive a conditional job offer until December 31, 2022, the full amount of the bonuses (less taxes, of course) will be paid out on the day prior to the pilot's reporting to training. The catch? Pilots will have to have a good deal of Part 121 flight time under their belt.

Also: NTSB Targets Niche Commercial Ops, Ingenuity Flight 34, CG Jayhawk Save, ASA Releases AIRCLASSICS Push-to-Talk Switch

With increasing frequency, the record of the Cirrus Vision Jet becomes all the more questionable. Friday morning, a Cirrus Vision Jet, N15VJ, went down shortly after takeoff from the Indianapolis Regional Airport. The pilot’s course of action took place early in the flight and barely a mile off the end of Runway 25. Video of the late 2020 aircraft, under the canopy, showed up swiftly on social media, and in one there seems to be a smoky trail above/behind the aircraft that might point to powerplant issues. The FAA has published a draft regarding an update to Air Carrier definitions that would add all powered-lift to existing definitions. The draft says that the rule is an "important step in the FAA's integration of new entrant aircraft in the National Airspace System”, paving the way for the expected wave of eVTO

Also: ANN Turkey Day!, ALPA v Pilot Shortage, Eco Caravan, New Petrel XP

Tamarack Aerospace has submitted a claim this week to the NAA and the European FAI for two city-pair flight records. The first—a 15 October, non-stop 2,033-nautical-mile flight from Spokane, Washington (GEG) to Orlando, Florida (MCO) in a King Air 350 retrofitted with Tamarack’s innovative Performance SMARTWING technology—was completed in a brisk 7-hours and 46-minutes. porty's unveiled the newest rendition of their handheld radio systems with their PJ2+, improving upon the portable backup with more usability than ever before. The new model features 6 watts of peak transmission power, with a brighter, high-contrast screen, flexible power options, USB-C support, and an easy touch key interface. A questionable set of circumstances, occurred Friday as a LATAM A320neo, the first major airframe loss of the type, collided with a fire truck that pulled out on to a runway

Oregon Company Seeks to Redefine Jet Set

Developed by an engineering team comprising veterans of aircraft design and certification programs at Bombardier, Cessna, Icon, Piper, SyberJet, Epic, Glasair, Kestrel, and Lancair, Redmond, Oregon-based Stratos Aircraft’s 716X affords owners/pilots the satisfaction of building a high-performance experimental jet that—though ineligible for certification as a normal category airplane—meets the requirements of FAR Part 23.2005 Level 2 [2 to 6 occupants], high-speed airplanes [VMO >250 KCAS or MMO >0.6 Mach].

Also: Snoopy Hitches a Ride, H3 Dynamics, Drone Pilot Textbook, ‘Airborne-NextGen!'

The FAA has published a draft regarding an update to Air Carrier definitions that would add all powered-lift to existing definitions. The draft says that the rule is an "important step in the FAA's integration of new entrant aircraft in the National Airspace System”, paving the way for the expected wave of eVTOL aircraft on the way. Compared to some of the other flights this past year, Flight 34 might not stand out. Even shorter than Ingenuity’s first flight, Tuesday’s successful 18-second flight simply popped up to a little over 16 feet, hovered, then landed. Despite the flight’s simple nature, the Ingenuity team is very excited because of what it means for the future of the program. After first establishing the creation of CBO's to offer some structure and guidance to the recretational drone community, the FAA has officially recogni

Also: ‘Airborne-NextGen’ Coming Soon, XQ-58 Autonomous Aircraft, ispace Mission 1, Cornwall Spaceport

Archer Aviation has unveiled its production aircraft, Midnight, a pilot-plus-four-passenger eVTOL aircraft during its Open House event in Palo Alto, CA. Midnight is the evolution of Archer’s demonstrator eVTOL aircraft, Maker, which has validated its twelve-tilt-six configuration and key enabling technologies. A group of three organ procurement organizations—San Antonio’s Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA), Houston’s LifeGift, and Oklahoma City’s LifeShare—have teamed with the Matador Unmanned Aerial System Consortium to test the viability of transporting human organs and blood between Lubbock, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio via unmanned aerial system (UAS). On Friday, 18 November 2022, Ampaire’s Eco Caravan made its maiden flight from Camarillo Airport (CMA)—thereby heralding the actualizatio

Also: Dutch Court Rules On Malaysia Downing, Air Cargo To Double?, Airbus A330 SAF, Alto's 100th

After negative media attention following a somewhat unique 2016 commercial balloon ride accident, the FAA has adopted a final rule requiring commercial hot-air balloon pilots to hold medical certificates when flying paying passengers. The rule mandates a second-class medical certificate, the same standard required for other commercial pilots. Agents of the Air Force and FBI raided two homes owned by Joerg Arnu, the proprietor and webmaster of Dreamland Resort, a website that focuses on Area 51. Arnu reported that his homes in Las Vegas and Rachel, Nevada had been raided “without warning” on 03 November 2022 “by 15-20 agents in full riot gear.” “I believe the search, executed with completely unnecessary force by overzealous government agents, was meant as a message to silence the Area 51 research community,” Arnu rema

Gulf Region Expected to Continue its Love Affair With French BizJets

Dassault will be showing off its Falcon 8X at this year's Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) show and exhibition. The long-range trijet has continued to prove popular in the Gulf region, given its long range and additional redundancy. Large cabin Falcons like the Falcon 8X make up a third of the 75 Dassault aircraft operating in the area, allowing owners to split the difference between a long-legged aircraft and a short field performer.

BIG Upgrades In The Works --- ANN Is Seeking EXCEPTIONAL New Staffers

The last few years have been about as challenging a time as we can recall... but we survive (yeah, we're kinda surprised, too) and look forward to 2023 and what we see as a very rewarding (and yes, still challenging) new generation of activities at ANN. After some truly weird times during the pandemic, ANN continues to expand slowly, but surely, and we have some truly intriguing upgrades coming up over the next few months. In other words, we're about to grow again -- REALLY/TRULY -- and in some novel directions. The much-appreciated expansion of "AIRBORNE UNLIMITED", the incredible potential of the all-new digital edition of the

Suspect’s Costar Killed in February 2022 Mishap

Matt Wright, star of the Australian reality television series Outback Wrangler, is facing charges of perverting the course of justice, destruction of evidence, fabricating evidence, interfering with witnesses, and unlawful entry in connection with a 28 February 2022 helicopter accident that claimed the life of his series co-star, Chris “Willow” Wilson. Wright denies any wrongdoing and states he will mount a vigorous defense against the charges.