Also: Virgin Galactic, TBMOPA’s European Convention, B-29 Doc and B-25 Berlin Express, Fairchild XNQ-1

An astronaut who was part of what was then mankind's greatest adventure... the first flight to orbit the moon and return back, has died in an accident while flying a T-34. Bill Anders, is credited with the famous Earthrise photo of the Earth coming up over the moon (taken aboard Apollo 8), and was confirmed to be the only occupant of the aircraft. Anders was 90 years old and his loss was confirmed by his son, Greg. Piper has received Flight into Known Icing (FIKI) certification from the FAA for its M700 FURY. The FIKI system comes standard on all M700 FURY aircraft, and is an electromechanical expulsion deicing system located on the tail as well as the leading edge of the wing. The recent FAA reauthorization brings a much-needed change to a long-running problem regarding air show restrictions. The law also specifically allows for the safe op

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Archer has been given some very good news as of late, now having been granted their operator certificate from the FAA. Even better for them, they've been given the Part 135 cert too, empowering their plans for air taxi operations in the future once the Midnight aircraft is ready to go. Once in full swing, Archer will offer short-hop rides aboard their 4-passenger eVTOL aircraft. Harbour Air, an all-seaplane operator in Vancouver, announced that they would be offering a conversion program using some of their single-engine turboprops and magniX's Magni650 electric systems. They signed a letter of intent with Bel-Air Aviation, a sightseeing operator on the East Coast of Canada. Under the deal, they plan to buy 3 'eBeaver' conversions, in a deal that will replace their DHC-2's propulsion systems with the magniX equivalent. Starship’s 4th Flight test was an engine

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Students of Atlantis Aviation Flight school are apparently either out the total sum of their prepaid flight training, or waiting on probate to get on with their careers, after the owners of the school died in an aircraft accident last March. Several students caught the attention of local news, sharing their plight with reporters in the hopes of continuing on with their training. Atlantis Aviation is, or was, a flight school offering students the usual zero-to-hero flight training experience in addition to the standard Part 61 experience. Nolinor Aviation has acquired a second Cessna 172 for its Become a Pilot program. This Cessna 172 (C-172), rich in history and carefully restored, will be made available to Nolinor Aviation employees, offering an exceptional pilot training opportunity. The Flight Simulation Association completed a survey of pilots and air traffic controller

The Rotax Powered Carbon Cub UL Impresses

A Carbon Cub running a Rotax 916 has long been on the short list of "why don't they..." aircraft, and Cubcrafters made good on the concept this year. At Sun 'n Fun 2023, they announced they'd be going full speed at integrating the top-of-the-line turbocharged 160-horsepower engine, and they managed to bring out out a mere year later. It's not quite ready for production yet, though, since the excellent weight savings of the light little Rotax lets them refine and optimize the rest of the plane for maximum performance and payload.

Also: Aerox 'Cylinder Sentinel', Annual TBM Reunion, Hubble Pause, Utah AAM 

A combined Spanish-Portuguese aerobatic demo team suffered a fatality at the Beja AirShow, when one of their aircraft clipped another during a performance. The show was held in the southern region of Portugal, the performing team's own backyard given their base in Ponte de Sor. Apparently, the lost pilot was the only one to die, with the other making a landing without incident. Electra has successfully achieved the first high-performance ultra-short flight operations of its piloted blown-lift hybrid-electric short takeoff and landing(eSTOL) demonstrator aircraft (EL-2 Goldfinch). The test flights, piloted by Cody Allee, took place through April and May 2024 at the Manassas Regional Airport and Warrenton-Fauquier Airport in Virginia. The longest flight lasted 1 hour 43 minutes. During the campaign, the aircraft took off in less than 170 ft and landed in under 114 ft gr

Also: Aerox 'Cylinder Sentinel', Annual TBM Reunion, Hubble Pause, Utah AAM 

A combined Spanish-Portuguese aerobatic demo team suffered a fatality at the Beja AirShow, when one of their aircraft clipped another during a performance. The show was held in the southern region of Portugal, the performing team's own backyard given their base in Ponte de Sor. Apparently, the lost pilot was the only one to die, with the other making a landing without incident. Electra has successfully achieved the first high-performance ultra-short flight operations of its piloted blown-lift hybrid-electric short takeoff and landing(eSTOL) demonstrator aircraft (EL-2 Goldfinch). The test flights, piloted by Cody Allee, took place through April and May 2024 at the Manassas Regional Airport and Warrenton-Fauquier Airport in Virginia. The longest flight lasted 1 hour 43 minutes. During the campaign, the aircraft took off in less than 170 ft and landed in under 114 ft gr

Also: uAvionix AV-Link, Does Simming Make Better Pilots?, World Games, AMA National Fun Fly

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 912 TG model, sporting some light tweaks and changes for improved stiffness and durability. The Rotax folks have published a Service Bulletin after issues were noted that may affect all R915i and R916i series engines. Rotax operators have reported occasional, isolated, cases a momentary slipping of the overload clutch -- which may lead to a slight exceedance of the maximum rpm limit, followed by the engine rpm quickly normalizing. In perusing over 1,000 variations of sport aircraft for the current SportPlane Resource Guide, a few designs definitely catch the eye. One of the most startling of these is an all-composite, V-Tail machine that appears to offer an extraordinarily low drag co

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Suk Min Choi, known to his million-plus YouTube subscribers as Alex Choi, has been arrested and faces federal charges for “causing the placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.” The charges result from Choi’s allegedly being the mastermind behind a scheme to create a video showing a Lamborghini speeding and doing donuts on a dry lake bed as passengers in a low-flying helicopter shoot fireworks aimed at the car. A well-filmed clip began circulating over the weekend, showing a Harbour Air seaplane as it began its takeoff roll and collided with a boat. The aircraft was operating under Harbour Air, a seaplane operator in Vancouver, Canada. The firm is a common sight there, with a handful of single-engine, high-wing turboprops tethered to the dock in between a constant stream of revenue flights. Thankfully, there were no f

Aero Linx: Vertical Aviation Safety Team (VAST) We are a public–private initiative to enhance worldwide flight operations safety in all segments of the vertical flight industry. Team members comprise international regional safety teams; safety authorities, including civil aviation authorities; and other industry stakeholders that work to improve global vertical flight safety.

Dead Reckoning Dead reckoning, as applied to flying, is the navigation of an airplane solely by means of computations based on airspeed, course, heading, wind direction, and speed, groundspeed, and elapsed time.