RAF Mourns Loss of One of Its Own, Squadron Leader Mark Long

A tragic crash involving a Royal Air Force Spitfire has led to the grounding of the fleet for the time being. The pilot's identity has been released to the public, Squadron Leader Mark Long. He was a Typhoon pilot with the Royal Air Force before getting a slot with the Memorial Flight, where he's been flying the last 4 years. Prior to the incident, the BBMF had 6 original Spitfires left, which fly alongside a dozen airworthy Hurricanes. The unit is staffed as a regular RAF unit, funded by the UK's Ministry of Defense.

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The warbird community celebrated Mark Novak, Chief Pilot of their B-29 'Doc', and his accomplishment of racking up 500 hours in the vintage bomber. On top of that, Novak built up more than 300 hours of time flying the other B-29 'Fifi', making him the modern era's most experienced B-29 pilot. The Airspace Center for Excellence has been given the blessing to begin operating Lakeland Linder International Airport's first concessions store, riding on the tail of new commercial service by Avelo Airlines. Evidently, there weren't too many bidders for the opportunity, with most

Transition from 'Helicopter' Society to 'Vertical Flight' Helps Strengthen Industry Ties

One of the Vertical Flight Society's own has been given the Exceptional Public Service Medal from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), garnering just another smidgeon of prestige for the organization. VFS Director of Strategy Mike Hirschberg was recognized with the EPSM, which is awarded to those who contribute to NASA's mission without being on a government payroll. Hirschberg was honored at the NASA Ames Research Center’s “2023 Presidential Rank & NASA Honors Awards” ceremony, where 73 individual and 27 group awards were given to NASA employees, contractors and groups. Hirschberg was the only one out of 100 awards g

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GAMA released their 1Q/24 GA Aircraft Shipment and Billing Report -- with mostly mixed news. The results for the first three months of 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023, show deliveries were flat for piston airplanes and piston helicopters, decreased for turboprops and turbine helicopters, and increased for business jets. Total aircraft billings were up 3.2% at $4.7 billion. Czech sportplane manufacturer Direct Fly has finished delivering its 200th ALTO NG, the latest iteration of their 600-kg sportplane. The Alto was previously offered as the Alto

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In partnership with Revv Aviation and the Eastern Iowa Airport (CID), Coe College is opening a new flight school and aviation management program. Those interested in becoming a professional pilot can complete their certification while enrolled as students within Coe's new aviation management concentration. Just as they got themselves a new contract, things spiraled out of control as the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots claimed, "Managers use intimidation, aggressive interrogation tactics to silence the Union's voice." Scarcely a few weeks passed si

Expanding Portfolio Brings Eutelsat OneWeb to Wide Swath of Citation Family

Gogo Business Aviation has announced a European STC for the use of the Galileo HDX antenna for the Cessna Citation Latitude jet, paving the way for a Euro internet solution entirely from the Gogo fold. Much like the more famous but general-use Starlink, Gogo Galileo operates on the Eutelsat OneWeb enterprise low-Earth-orbit satellite network. That gives very global coverage, since, as Gogo notes, the Eutelsat network is already fully deployed. All in all, the STC for the Citation Latitude will cover almost 400 aircraft in the worldwide fleet. Other Euro STCS along similar lines include the Citation 525, CJ1, CJ2, CJ3, CJ4, and Embraer Phenom 300. With EASA blessing for eac

$7.5 Million Replaces 4 Out-of-Spec Taxiways at Tulsa Reliever

Tulsa Riverside Airport of Oklahoma has completed a small ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of a newly realigned Taxiway Alpha, correcting a collection of non-standard, angled taxiways. The project ran about $7.5 million in all, funded largely by a Federal Aviation Administration grant of $6.8 million. The rest was scraped together with $381,000 from an Oklahoma Department of Aerospace & Aeronautics (ODAA) Grant of $381,028, and the rest form the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust (TAIT) for $423,928. With construction complete, all four connector taxiways between Runway 01L/19R and Taxiway Alpha meet standard specifications, connecting at perpendicular angles for maximum visib

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A Saturday afternoon jump run, originating from SkyDive Kansas City, went bad when it was reported that, "a Skydiver premature parachute deployment at 14,000 msl damag(ed) the tail section." The turbine-upgraded Cessna 206, N29173, was abandoned by the pilot, who made a safe and successful jump, though the aircraft is a total loss. The parachute-equipped jump pilot exited the aircraft after all six jumpers had cleared the aircraft. The fourth flight test of Starship could launch as soon as June 5, pending regulatory approval. SpaceX notes that Starship’s third flight tes

ANCILLARY Program Gets New Contender

AeroVironmen'ts Group 3 Wildcat is now being honed as one of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's inscrutably designated 'AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY' program. In typical DARPA try hard fashion, the program is probably more 'backronym' than 'acronym', but ANCILLARY is easier to remember so it makes sense why it stuck. AeroVironment is hoping its little Wildcat will be the most promising of the bunch, since it offers the right blend of endurance, payload, VTOL and landing performance while managing to host enhanced autonomy. AeroVironment knows that the hardware is only part of what makes a successful UAS these days, so they promise the inclusion of their SPOTR-Edge machi

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There are, occasionally, blisteringly dunderheaded bits of governmental incompetence to be found with increasing regularity... but the most recent move by the Nat'l Parks Service leaves us shaking our heads and a bit ashamed of Uncle Sam. The leaders of the Arsenal of Democracy consortium had planned to execute a World War II aircraft flyover at Mount Rushmore on Memorial Day to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. It would have been grand... and NOT a sight to miss. Vertical Aviation International is worried that an NYC helicopter port is in danger of permanent closure c

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Blue Origin's seventh passenger flight ended with a smidgeon of drama when one of its 3 parachutes failed to fully deploy, forcing it to rely on its remaining 2 units. That's not the worst system failure in the world, since the triple-chute system sports redundancy as a baseline, but it's always a little discomfiting to rely on a backup whenever parachutes are involved. Women in Aviation International (WAI) members and friends will honor the valiant service of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) by visiting their graves and leaving an appropriate

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The EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship program has seen its 500th student pilot graduate helped along the way, marking off a significant milestone for the group's most widely useful scholarship. The Ray Scholarship is funded by the Ray Foundation, but managed by EAA. That allows it to source candidates through its network of EAA chapters. Women in Corporate Aviation has announced the recipients of its Spring Scholarship Program, noting that they've had a record amount of applications in the last year. All in all, WCA saw more than 300 applicants for the scholarship, mea

There Was No Record Of Any (Pilot) Experience In The Accident Airplane Make And Model

On May 20, 2024, about 0842 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Quicksilver Sport 2S, N960B, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Cleveland, Georgia. The sport pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 test flight. According to the owner of the airplane, he transported it via ground to the sport pilot/light sport aircraft repairman’s facility at Mountain Airpark (0GE5), Cleveland, Georgia. The sport pilot/repairman performed maintenance, which included replacing the fabric, replacing a throttle cable, and performing an annual condition inspection. The

From 2020 (YouTube Version): Aircare International Has Been Elevating In-Flight Safety For More Than 40 Years

For over 40 years, Aircare FACTS Training has been providing human factor-based emergency procedures training for pilots, flight engineers, flight attendants, other cabin crew and executive frequent flyers. Aircare FACTS Training offers a variety of research-based programs, specifically designed to meet the needs of business aviation and public/military aircraft, especially those looking to meet the cabin safety requirements outlined in FA

Aero Linx: National Naval Aviation Museum Located aboard historic Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, and offering free admission, the National Naval Aviation Museum is one of the largest aviation museums in the world. With the mission to “select, collect, preserve and display historic artifacts related to the history of Naval Aviation,” you will enjoy an inspiring journey through history and much more.

Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP) Charts Portray the aeronautical data which is required to execute an instrument approach to an airport. These charts depict the procedures, including all related data, and the airport diagram. Each procedure is designated for use with a specific type of electronic navigation system including NDB, TACAN, VOR, ILS RNAV and GLS. These charts are identified by the type of navigational aid(s)/equipment required to provide final approach guidance.

As Long As You Ask Us, It's Usually OK

It's a question the ANN staff is asked too many times per week to count. The message usually goes something like this: "I really enjoyed the story Aero-News did on (fill in topic here.) I'd love to post it on my blog/newsletter/website... is that OK?"

"The loss of a pilot and a historic airframe is a terrible thing. Our thoughts go out to his family and teammates. BBMF is a very close knit organisation." Source: Aviation Heritage UK Chairman Allan Winn in a statement echoing the sentiments of the global warbird community while speaking with the BBC, following the fatal crash of a Spitfire and the voluntary grounding of their fleet.