Despite the Scaremongering Media Headlines, Things End Well for Polaris

Two aircraft performing at the Fort Lauderdale Air Show clipped wings during a routine last Sunday, spooking onlookers with the hint of a tragedy. The aircraft were performing as a part of the Polaris Ghost Squadron, a team of urban-camo milsurp jets hailing from across Eastern Europe. The Polaris Ghost Squadron features an eye-catching MiG-29, a trio of Alpha Jets, and a quartet of Albatros L-39s. In their recent incident, the team pulled just a little too close during their Fort Lauderdale routine, touching tips but preventing any worse damage from occurring. 

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Two aircraft performing at the Fort Lauderdale Air Show clipped wings during a routine last Sunday, spooking onlookers. The aircraft were performing as a part of the Polaris Ghost Squadron, a team of urban-camo milsurplus jets hailing from across Eastern Europe. The Polaris Ghost Squadron features an eye-catching MiG-29, a trio of Alpha Jets, and a quartet of Albatros L39s. The US Air Force won't be bringing back a damaged B-2A Spirit bomber, further whittling away at the irreplaceable fleet of strategic aircraft. The plane in question was contrasted against one that had a minor cr

European Certification Paves the Way for Increased Deliveries

Gulfstream has confirmed that the Gulfstream G700 has received European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification, following the aircraft’s FAA type certification on March 29. “The Gulfstream team is proud to add EASA to our growing G700 certification accomplishments,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “During the flight test program, we took the G700 across the globe, and the response to the aircraft’s cabin size, flexibility and performance has been outstanding. This EASA certification unlocks G700 deliveries for many more of our international customers, and we are excited to see our next-generation fleet grow around the world

Current Delay Puts Off CFT Launch To May 21

NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) teams continue working remaining open tasks in preparation for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. The teams now are targeting a launch date of no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 21, to complete additional testing. On May 11, the ULA team successfully replaced a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage. The team also performed re-pressurization and system purges, and tested the new valve, which performed normally.

Citation Ascend Business Jet Was Unveiled During EBACE 2023 

Textron is promoting the continued advancement of the Cessna Citation Ascend program following the successful completion of numerous certification tests and more than 350 flight test hours. The Citation Ascend business jet was unveiled during 2023 EBACE and the aircraft is expected to enter into service in 2025. “The success of the program to date highlights the skill and commitment of our teams in designing and delivering the best aviation experience for customers.”

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The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway in Mentone, IN -- the home of the PRA, itself. "We are reaching out to you today on behalf of the Popular Rotorcraft Association because we need your help. We are dangerously close to losing a critical resource that if lost, will have a negative and lasting effect on the gyro community..." An interesting surprise occurred this week as Wag-Aero customers logged on to their site in order to order a few things...no Wag-Aero. Instead, the site was redirected to Aircraft Spruce, which ha

Waterbury-Oxford Airport Open for Business This Summer

Clay Lacy Aviation is hard at work prepping their newest FBO and hangar at New York's Waterbury-Oxford Airport (KOXC), with plans to open it this upcoming summer. The facility will offer visitors more than 120,000 square feet of new hangars, giving big corporate jet operators enough space to operate while they pass through the populous northeastern region. "The facility still has room to accommodate more super-mid, large-cabin, and ultra-long range jets," said David "Buddy" Blackburn, Chief Business Officer for Clay Lacy FBOs.

Denton Program Continues to Make Best of Extra Space

The US Air Force unloaded 12 pallets of humanitarian cargo at a Honduran air base this month, under the long-running Denton Program, a DoD transportation effort. The program serves a number of functions, often fulfilling humanitarian goals for hot spots around the world, using space available on already scheduled flights. It's a pretty efficient system, overall, with little cost added to trips that are already going to be taken - delivering donated goods, no less.

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The Perris SkyDive DC-9 is ALIVE! Following initial test flights and practice landings that were flown by a flight crew that had to be brought in all the way from Florida, the California DZ put the DC9 back in service and made at least three jump runs on Saturday, taking about 60 jumpers each to about 15K'. An interesting surprise occurred this week as Wag-Aero customers logged on to their site in order to order a few things...no Wag-Aero. Instead, the site was redirected to Aircraft Spruce, which has apparently bought out the once popular Wag-Aero operations shortly afte

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UVify is claiming a new Guinness World Record for the most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously. This event took place in Songdo, Korea, where UVify orchestrated a display of 5,293 IFO drones that lit up the night sky. The fleet of IFO drones created intricate patterns and visuals above the crowd, showcasing UVify's programming and drone control technology. The record-breaking feat exceeded the previous record. Airbus has completed the acquisition of US-based Aerovel and its unmanned aerial system (UAS), Flexrotor. Flexrotor is a small tactical unmanned aerial

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The Judge overseeing Icon's convoluted Chapter 11 process has approved $9 million in Chapter 11 financing and set a June asset auction for the Icon A5 Program -- and said that objections had apparently been resolved (for the moment) by shareholders who claimed (not surprisingly) that Icon was being sold to an 'insider.' Judge Craig T. Goldblatt gave final approval to Icon's (DIP) debtor-in-possession financing and approved the sales schedule... but has yet to approve that previously disclosed stalking horse bidder. On April 12, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Dis

Site to Sport Blended Sustainable Fuels Across the Board from Here on Out

Signature Aviation has announced that its Los Angeles International Airport location will now offer nothing but blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel, doing away with traditional Jet-A from pure, fresh petroleum stock entirely. While the overall news sounds quite progressive, some non-industry headlines applauding the change to "100% SAF", it should be noted that there's an asterisk there: it's 100% blended SAF, not quite the purely sustainable, freshly synthesized, eco-friendly stuff one imagines. 

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The Beechcraft Denali continues moving forward towards certification, having received its FAA Type Inspection Authorization early this year. Textron advertised that their single-engine turboprop competitor has logged more than 2,000 flight test hours across 830+ flights, on track for completion in 2025. Aerodyne, a new gyroplane manufacturer, will be commemorating its entry into the market with an attempt at setting some records as it runs a lap around the United Kingdom. Founder, executive chairman, and pilot Rangaraja Iyengar will make a full lap around the whole

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The Beechcraft Denali continues moving forward towards certification, having received its FAA Type Inspection Authorization early this year. Textron advertised that their single-engine turboprop competitor has logged more than 2,000 flight test hours across 830+ flights, on track for completion in 2025. Aerodyne, a new gyroplane manufacturer, will be commemorating its entry into the market with an attempt at setting some records as it runs a lap around the United Kingdom. Founder, executive chairman, and pilot Rangaraja Iyengar will make a full lap around th

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For the first time, students from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Florida, campus took top honors at the AIAA Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition, held in Wichita, Kansas. A second Embry-Riddle squad, this one from the Prescott, Arizona, campus, also placed among the top teams, earning eighth overall. The Leadership in Flight Training, or LIFT Academy, has expanded its training fleet with a recent order with Diamond Aircraft, bringing on 56 new planes. The deal sees LIFT gain 50 new single-engine DA40s, and 6 twin-engine DA42s. The training facility has continued to exp

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US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall was given a turn around the patch in the 'X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft, or VISTA, to illustrate just how far autonomous aircraft have come. The aircraft sounds much snazzier than it is in reality, being a 30-year old, 2-seat F-16D with a nifty paint job and an R2-D2 in one of the seats. The aircraft has long been in the US Air Force Test Pilot School, where it received modifications for multi-axis thrust vectoring and aerodynamics. AgEagle Aerial Systems will ship 40 of its eBee VISION systems, along with 9 more eB

Wing Leading Edges Exhibited Minor Impact Marks From Exiting Engine Debris

On July 20, 2023, at about 1:42pm local time, a Lancair Legacy airplane, registration number, N707NM, powered by a single Pratt & Whiteny Canada PT6A-42 turbopropeller engine experienced an uncontained engine failure while enroute from the Rapid City Regional Airport (KRAP), South Dakota to the Rochester International Airport (KRST), Minnesota. The pilot declared an emergency, started a gliding descent into KRST, and made a successful landing without power.

From 2022 (YouTube Version): Engine Company Challenges Convention—and Wins

Viking Aircraft Engines, the Edgewater, Florida-based manufacturer of piston aircraft engines, has fashioned a seemingly humble business-model into a genuine, and genuinely American success story. Viking’s praxis is simple. The company buys new and gently-used, late-model Honda automotive engines, and converts them to aircraft powerplants. Conversion, however, is no simple feat. In point of fact, it’s a downright complex process comprising extensive modification of the engine’s cylinder heads, valve-train, cam chain, pistons, oil-syste

Aero Linx: Alaska Airmen's Association The Alaska Airmen's Association includes over 2,000 members—we are one of the largest General Aviation communities in the country. We strive to promote aviation, enhance safety and support initiatives that benefit pilots and grow the aviation community. Whether you're a veteran pilot or you've discovered a passion for aviation, the Alaska Airmen's Association is proud to welcome new members who share the wonders of flight in the Last Frontier!

Instrument Runway A runway equipped with electronic and visual navigation aids for which a precision or nonprecision approach procedure having straight-in landing minimums has been approved.

Good News, Bad News... It's ALL News

As the preeminent online aviation news resource out there, the editorial staff at Aero-News sees a large number of news releases. We look at all of them, and can usually tell whether something merits publishing consideration within reading the first couple of paragraphs. Often, however, a new and innovative product can be overlooked because of the very words written to promote it, by the very people who created it.

"Knowing that we play an active part in bettering people's lives is extremely rewarding. My team and I are very thankful for the opportunity to be here and to help in any way we can." Source: Captain Triston Dillard, the 612th Air Base Squadron's logistics flight commander, touting the role their troops played as the US Air Force unloaded 12 pallets of humanitarian cargo at a Honduran air base this month, under the long-running Denton Program, a DoD transportation effort.