Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Also: SpaceX Starship Carries on, Hartzell Adds Lamar, Mar-a-Lago TFR Ooopppss, CAF Lobo Wing
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association issued the Third Quarter 2025 General Aviation Aircraft Shipping and Billing Report, covering results worldwide, and the result for the first nine months of 2025, when compared to the same period last year, show increased shipments in the business jet sector as well as an increase in the overall value of aircraft shipments. Airbus released an update on the deployment of precautionary fleet measures on its approximately 6,000 A320 family of aircraft. The actions were required after several aircraft experienced an unexpected loss of altitude and Airbus issued an Alert Operators Transmission (AOT). Upon inspection, Airbus engineers traced the anomalies to corrupted altitude data believed to be caused by intense solar radiation that affected software vulnerabilities feeding the altitude data to aircraft sys
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Also: Cosmonaut Kicked Out, Airbus Scales Back, AF Silver Star, Russian A-60 Clobbered
A Samaritan’s Purse humanitarian flight was hijacked on Tuesday, December 2, while attempting to supply a mobile medical unit in South Sudan. Authorities were able to meet the aircraft on the ground and take the suspect into custody without further incident. The aircraft involved was one of the organization’s Cessna Grand Caravans that operates solely within Africa. The FAA has taken an unusually cooperative step towards pilot mental health reform, reducing the stabilization wait time for approved antidepressant medications from 6 months to just 3. Though this is, in itself, a basic change, it reflects years of industry efforts. Under the revised policy, airmen and air traffic control specialists may now submit Special Issuance medical packages after maintaining a stable dose of an approved antidepressant for at least three continuous months. The maid
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Boeing-Spirit Merger May Take Some Time
A New York Stock Exchange Notice says trading of Spirit AeroSystems will be suspended on December 8th, adding a little angst to the market. Boeing needs to fulfill certain closing conditions before they can roll Spirit back into the fold, but some are saying the acquisition could be completed early this week.
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Also: IAE Acquires Diamond Trainers, Army Drones, FedEx Pilots Warning, DA62 MPP To Dresden Tech Uni
The danger to the flight training industry and our future pilots is clear. Donald Frano, a member of the Central Florida Pilots Association, posted a statement as an urgent warning about the increasing number of airports using or considering using a third-party vendor to send landing fees to pilots based on ADS-B data. This began in Florida and is a growing threat that the aviation community needs to stand up to and strongly oppose. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, has thrown his full support behind the bipartisan Mental Health in Aviation Act (MHAA) by joining as a co-sponsor of the bipartisan legislation. The bill intends to destigmatize mental health issues in aviation, train aviation medical examiners, and make it overall easier for aviation professionals to seek and receive mental health treatment without fearing the loss of their careers. The Federal Go
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Also: Trailblazing Aviator Betty Stewart, Wind Farm Scrutiny, Chatham Ban Overturned, Airbus Shares Dive
A Thunderbird pilot, ID'ed alternately as Thunderbird 5 or Thunderbird 6, (but not yet confirmed officially) ejected from his/her Lockheed Martin F-16CM-52-CF Fighting Falcon Wednesday (12-03-25) during a training mission in California. The accident occurred near Trona Airport on an unoccupied dry lake bed area south of the airport in San Bernardino County. The pilot ejected safely just before the airframe impacted the ground. Air India somehow misplaced a 43-year-old Boeing 737-200 and forgot about it for over a decade. The Kolkata airport didn’t forget about the airplane though, and continued to add parking fees. The airline was oblivious until recently, when it received a parking bill that, over a 13-year period, accumulated to a total of 10 million Indian Rupees, about USD$120,000. Dynon has released SkyView HDX software version 17.4,
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Also: Electra Goes Military, Miami Air Taxi, Hypersonics Lab, MagniX HeliStrom
Amazon’s Prime Air drones are back in the spotlight after one of its newest MK30 delivery drones struck an overhead internet cable in Waco, Texas. The incident serves as an unnerving replay of safety concerns that surfaced just two months ago involving back-to-back collisions with a crane in Arizona. The more recent event occurred on November 18. The drone, registered N139PA, had just wrapped up a delivery when it “clipped a thin, overhead internet cable,” according to Amazon. The maiden flight of LandSpace’s ZhuQue-3 rocket on December 3 was one for the books… for both its successes and failures. The rocket reached orbit before the first stage booster recovery attempt resulted in an explosion near the edge of the landing pad. A soldier with no aviation experience was trained how to create flight plans and flew unmanned Black Hawk hel
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
From 2022 (YouTube Edition): Still Life with Verve
David Uhl was born into a family of engineers and artists—a backdrop conducive to his gleaning a keen appreciation for the form, function, and beauty of machines, and an intuitive understanding of the passions they inspire. Mr. Uhl purchased his first motorcycle in 1988, and his pencils, brushes, and artistic sensibilities hastened to document the arcane syncretisms of line, curve, and color by which the brute concomitantly aroused the intellectual and visceral ecstasies.
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Several Seconds After He Initiated The Takeoff Roll, The Canopy Opened And Then Separated From The Airplane
On October 14, 2025, at about 1030 Pacific daylight time, an EXTRA FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH 300L, N300EX, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Arlington, Washington. The flight instructor and private pilot receiving instruction were uninjured. The aircraft operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The instructor pilot stated that prior to departure, he verified the canopy was closed and latched on three separate occasions. Several seconds after he initiated the takeoff roll, the canopy opened and then separated from the airplane. During the separation, the canopy struck and substantially damaged the rudder, right horizontal stabilizer, and right elevator trim tab.
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Aero Linx: International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians
IFFR is one of the oldest Rotary Fellowships and was formally established through the efforts of a dedicated Rotarian, E. Edison Kennell, of Seattle, Washington, in 1965. In countries where distances are great and communications are limited IFFR pilots have used their aircraft to help with medical and other emergencies, and several Sections hold meetings at which young people are introduced to the world of aviation.
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Thu, Dec 11, 2025
Nonradar Arrival
An aircraft arriving at an airport without radar service or at an airport served by a radar facility and radar contact has not been established or has been terminated due to a lack of radar service to the airport.
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