Sat, May 31, 2025
As the air traffic controller shortage trudges on, the US Department of Transportation is rolling out even more financial incentives (aka bribes) to encourage experienced controllers to remain on the job beyond retirement age.

The latest offer is a 20% annual bonus. Vertical Aerospace announced that its VX4 eVTOL performed its first successful winged flight with a pilot at the controls, marking the first piloted wingborne flight of a winged eVTOL in open European airspace. The flight, piloted by Chief Test Pilot Simon Davies, came on the heels of approval by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority, or CAA. SpaceX launched its ninth flight test of a complete Starship vehicle nearly on time after a few minutes of holds before getting a move on. This was a far tougher flight test than previous missions, especially for the booster which was subjected to some aggressive and adverse test conditions... which it did not survive before its scheduled landing in the Gulf of America. This was the second flight of the booster... All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne-Unlimited!!!

Airborne 05.29.25 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Thursday, May 29th, 2025... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Host Holland Lee. Holland is supported by ANN Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, as well as ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell. This episode covers:
- Duffy Pushes FAA to Roll Out Retirement-Delaying ATC Bonus
- First Successful Piloted Flight By Vertical’s VX4 eVTOL
- SpaceX Starship 9 Undertakes Test Flight With Mixed Success
- Hermeus Quarterhorse MK 1 Flies At Edwards AFB
- ASA Releases Seaplane Rating Field Guide
- Airbus Gets Order For Twenty A330neos From Vietjet
- Woman Caught With 150 Pounds of Cannabis in SFO
Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again tomorrow, for the next edition of "Airborne Unlimited" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, tomorrow!
© 2025, Aero-News Network, Inc., ALL Rights Reserved.
More News
From 2021: The Inside Skinny On What Being An ANN Oshkosh Stringer Is All About By ANN Senior Stringer Extraordinare, Gene Yarbrough The annual gathering at Oshkosh is a right of p>[...]
Video Showed That During The Takeoff, The Nose Baggage Door Was Open On May 10, 2025, about 0935 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32RT-300, N30689, was destroyed when it was invol>[...]
Get The Latest in Aviation News NOW on Instagram Are you on Instagram yet? It's been around for a few years, quietly picking up traction mostly thanks to everybody's new obsession >[...]
"I think what is key, we have offered a bonus to air traffic controllers who are eligible to retire. We are going to pay them a 20% bonus on their salary to stay longer. Don't reti>[...]
Aero Linx: Pilot Briefing The gathering, translation, interpretation, and summarization of weather and aeronautical information into a form usable by the pilot or flight supervisor>[...]