Voting Underway Until May 3, 90% Support Incorporating

SpaceX’s Starbase facility may become Starbase City soon, as residents voting on whether to incorporate as a city have until May 3, 2025 to cast their ballots. Starbase is the home of SpaceX’s Starship facility and its current population is less than 300, including 120 children.

Also: Boeing Reports, Airbus-Spirit, USAF CV-22 Milestone, ANN/Oshkosh 2025 Stringers

A HEXA electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft experienced a component failure while performing demo flights at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Though it was able to land without an issue, the bird and its twin will remain grounded until event organizers say otherwise. The HEXA is manufactured by LIFT Aircraft. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been busy spearheading a multi-million dollar communications project at the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that regulates the same airspace Musk’s SpaceX flies through. Employees pulled into this project, charmingly named “Project Lift,” have claimed that they have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. As airmen medical applications reach an all-time high, the FAA is turning to the public to review questions, comments, and concerns about the ce

Also: Airplane-Helo Risks, AirVenture Showcasing Korean War, United Purchasing JetZero Birds, Boom Gears Up

The FAA announced that the agency will not move ahead with its policy of issuing denials of incomplete medical applications when the prior long-standing policy was to defer them until the applications were complete. The agency said it will instead work with the aviation community to establish initiatives that will give pilots information on best practices to facilitate their medical applications as well as assist the FAA in processing applications deferred by AMEs. A recent report from the National Weather Service, showing vacancies as high as 40% in some forecast offices, has the industry bracing for lower accuracy and slower data reporting. The agency has already begun cutting several weather collection methods in more heavily affected areas. Aviation charter company AeroVanti is adding to its long list of lost lawsuits with sports teams, b

Also: Flight Hour Reqs, Gulfstream Records, Boeing NGAD Award, TX Pilot Jailed 

The staff of Aero-News is heartbroken to report that Rob Holland lost his life in an as yet inexplicable landing accident. Flying in to Langley Air Force Base, Thursday, Holland was a featured performer for the Air Power Over Hampton Roads airshow. He had been inbound form Nashville (KBNA) when the flight went awry... Vertical Aviation International is calling on its members to help prevent Introduction 0026-A from passing an upcoming vote. If their mission fails, only electric and essential helicopters will be allowed to operate using NYC heliports. Int. 0026-A was proposed on February 8, 2024, in the New York City Council. It aims to reduce noise by regulating helicopter operations at city-owned heliports. Boeing announced it is selling off parts of its Digital Aviation Solutions business to private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo in an all-cash transaction wo

Reaches 250 Satellite Missions, 20th For Falcon 9 Booster

SpaceX continues to add to its megaconstellation of Starlink satellites with its 48th launch of 2025 that carried 23 more on Sunday April 27. The mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:09 pm EDT from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

CAF Volunteers Help “Bringing The Boys Back Home” Effort

Volunteers from the Commemorative Air Force are honoring the legacy of the 423 British servicemen who were killed in the U.S. during training for World War II and were buried on American soil. The aim of the “Bringing the Boys Back Home” project is to reconnect the fallen heroes with their families in the UK.

Bringing Stability To Commercial Aircraft Programs

Airbus has finalized a definitive deal to acquire all industrial assets and certain sites of Spirit AeroSystems pertaining to production of airframe parts and components for its commercial aircraft production programs. The divestiture is expected to close concurrently with Spirit’s previously announced acquisition by the Boeing Company, approximately in Q3 2025.

Also: CiES Documents, Hypersonic Tech, SKYTRAC Health Monitoring, Skyryse 

Archer Aviation announced a blueprint for an eVTOL network in New York City that would connect travelers between Manhattan and nearby airports in New York and New Jersey that would use existing aviation assets like helipads in the city and airports as nodes for travelers looking to save travel time. In preparation for an upcoming In-Space Advanced Manufacturing (ISAM) mission, UK-based startup Space Forge has officially shipped its ForgeStar-1 satellite to the US. The work aims to harness space’s extreme conditions to create materials unavailable here on the blue planet. The company’s first rendition of the microwave-sized in-space manufacturing satellite, titled Forgestar-0, launched on a Virgin Orbit rocket in January 2023. However, a failure of the spacecraft’s fuel filter caused Forgestar-0 and several other research satellites to land in the Atlan

Also: Astronaut Pettit & Cosmonauts Return, Malaysia Wants Boeing Slots, Germany Nixes Typhoon Sale, More Boeing Woes

The CAF’s restored C-47 Skytrain “Ready 4 Duty” arrived at Maxwell AFB (KMXF) in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 17 for the first stop in its Navy to Victory tour recognizing the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. The tour will cover 12,000  miles as it makes 30 stops in 7 countries in the USand Europe, returning home to Lancaster, Texas on July 4. For the fourth time since 2017, Congress is reviewing a bill that could completely reshape low-level drone flight in the US. The Drone Integration and Zoning Act would allow all 90,000 of the nation’s local governments to regulate drones below 200 feet as they please. The concept was first introduced under the name ‘Drone Federalism Act’ in 2017. The bill changed to its current title, ‘Drone Integration and Zoning Act,’ when Senator

Also: Cal Poly Aviation Club, $$un Country, Arkansas Aviation Academy, Teamsters Local 2118

In response to two recent general aviation accidents that made national headlines, more than 5,000 pilots have joined the “National Pause for General Aviation Safety.” This is a six-month campaign launched in April 2025 by the Air Safety Institute. The initiative, backed by the FAA and 22 other aviation organizations, urges GA pilots to slow down, refocus, and maybe—just maybe—stop flying into trouble. Epic Flight Academy and Seminole State College of Florida (SSC) have signed an agreement that enables pilots trained at Epic to transfer certifications as college credit hours toward a degree at SSC. A maximum number of 27 credits can be applied toward an Associate degree. An associate degree at Seminole State College requires 60 credit hours, so a pilot who goes from Private to CFI at Epic can get credit for nearly half that total. ALP