YouTuber Ordered to Pay Defendant $1-Million+

A Texas court ruled on 16 August 2023 that online allegations made by controversial YouTuber Dan Gryder against Texas pilot and airport-owner Charles Cook were false and defamatory. Judge John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court in Texas’s Tarrant County ordered Gryder to pay Cook a total of $1,081,667 plus interest accruing at five-percent annually "until all amounts are paid in full”—according to court records.

Rise of the Blended Wing Body

The U.S. Air Force had awarded Long Beach, California aerospace startup JetZero $235-million to build an airliner-scale, piloted, Blended Wing Body (BWB) technology demonstrator in partnership with Northrop-Grumman and Scaled Composites. The funds will be distributed over a four-year period culminating, presumably, in a 2027 first-flight. The planned aircraft will be assembled at Scaled Composites’s Mojave, California facility and powered, ostensibly, by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW100-series Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines. Though not ascribed, officially, to the USAF’s Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) the JetZero demonstrator will likely inform the design of such.

Russian Cargo Carrier Threatens to Sue Canada

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has issued an ultimatum threatening to drag the Canadian government before international arbitrators for purpose of forcing the return of what the airline—which has ties to neither Moscow nor the Russian Federation political machinery—convincingly asserts is a stolen asset. Volga-Dnepr has proposed the dispute over a seized An-124 be resolved “amicably” in accordance with Article 9 and Canada's November 1989 Policy on Encouragement and Mutual Protection of Investments.

Total 2023 Sales to Date Exceed $1.6-Billion

The Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) has released its second-quarter 2023 Avionics Market Report. In the first six months of the year, total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales amounted to $1,601,414,712.48, or more than $1.6-billion as reported by participating companies.

Hail the Deserving Victor

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) and the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots have announced Julie Clark is to be awarded 2023’s Katharine Wright Memorial Trophy.

Dakota Territory Air Museum Welcomes All

Minot, North Dakota’s Dakota Territory Air Museum will observe National Aviation Day with a gala event featuring flight- and static-displays of vintage aircraft, free plane rides, and a drawing to determine the winner of the museum’s 27th annual sweepstakes. Among aircraft to be displayed at the event are recently-restored WWII-era P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes.

Of Reaping and Sewing

Government and media outlets in Canada, the U.S., and Europe ascribe the prevailing paucity of CFIs primarily to COVID layoffs. The truth, as ever, resists simplicity, and in the prevailing instance, speaks to the perils of poor planning and complacency.

Braving Hell in Paradise

General aviation aircraft owners and pilots mobilized their machines and mustered their skill, courage, and humanity in equal measure for purpose of establishing a supply-line by which to provide humanitarian relief to the people of fire-ravaged Lahaina. The supply-line effort by which Lahaina was sustained during the fires’ second week was conceived of and organized by CFI and flight-school owner Laurence Balter and Maui Brewing founder Garrett Marrero. Utilizing little more than text-messages and social-media, the pair recruited pilots, aircraft, volunteers, and donors, the combined efforts of which facilitated the commencement of relief flight operations of 11 August 2023.

From 2015 (YouTube Version): The Stunning Details Of A Compelling Aspect Of Aviation History

If you try to tell the story of American pilots flying variations of the German Messerschmitt BF-109 while escorting B-17 bombers on their mission, most people wouldn’t believe you. It’s also hard to believe that pilots flying British Spitfires were locked in deadly aerial battles against each other. But, these things did happen in Israel’s war for independence that began in 1948. While at EAA AirVenture 2015, ANN’s Maxine Scheer interviewed Nancy Spielberg, who is the producer of a documentary movie titled, Above and Beyond.

(Pilot) Plead Guilty To A Felony Charge For Obstructing A Federal Investigation By Deliberately Destroying The Airplane Wreckage 

The pilot reported that the airplane’s engine lost power during cruise flight over mountainous terrain. He stated that after determining that there were no available emergency landing spots, he decided to bail out. The airplane was destroyed during the impact sequence, and the pilot sustained minor injuries as a result of the parachute jump. Shortly after the accident, the pilot provided a statement regarding the circumstances to the NTSB and FAA, and in a series of correspondences later stated that he had not been able to locate the airplane wreckage.

Aero Linx: Porterfield Airplane Club

The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation was started in 1925 by Ed Porterfield for the express purpose of providing a safe training aircraft for the fledgling Porterfield Flying School. Porterfield felt that a safer, better-performing trainer was badly needed to replace the existing "Jennys" and Lincoln "Standards" being used in his flight school. 

Braking Action Advisories When tower controllers receive runway braking action reports which include the terms “medium," “poor," or “nil," or whenever weather conditions are conducive to deteriorating or rapidly changing runway braking conditions, the tower will include on the ATIS broadcast the statement, “Braking Action Advisories are in Effect." During the time braking action advisories are in effect, ATC will issue the most current braking action report for the runway in use to each arriving and departing aircraft. Pilots should be prepared for deteriorating braking conditions and should request current runway condition information if not issued by controllers. Pilots shou

"Again, each comment is false. The airplane was never abandoned at Flying Oaks Airport. The airplane was in flying condition and Cook purchased it from its owner, Francis. Cook refurbished the aircraft prior to its passing into the possession of the accident-pilot—a friend of Cook’s.”   Source: From testimony contained in the lawsuit by Charles Cook, who has prevailed with a judgment nearing $1.1 Million against YouTube 'influencer' Dan Gryder.