CommercialVirgin Galactic Passes 271,000 Feet in First Space Flight Virgin Galactic’s suborbital SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Unity, soared to 271,268 feet to become the first crewed flight vehicle built for commercial passenger service to reach space. The successful SpaceShipTwo test flight marks…
ConnectivityViva Air Equips A320s With Teledyne Sim Service, Wireless Avionics Viva Air will equip a fleet of 50 new Airbus A320s with wireless data loading and transmission technology designed to improve aircraft health monitoring and parts loading among other aircraft electronic functionality.…
ATM ModernizationEuropean ADS-B Implementation Plan to be Finalized in January The Single European ATM Research Agency Deployment Manager (SESAR DM) is in the final stages of launching a new ADS-B implementation plan that will synchronize the air traffic, avionics equipage and ground…
ATM ModernizationGermany to Launch Remote Airport Operations in January Germany’s first landing and take off of airplanes monitored remotely by air traffic controllers occurred at Saarbrücken Airport on Dec. 4. Both aircraft, a Luxair Bombardier DHC 8400 arriving from Luxembourg and a…
CommercialEASA Approves Airbus A220 for CAT III Autoland Operations The Airbus A220 has achieved category III (CAT III) autoland flight operational approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), giving pilots flying the regional airliner the ability to land in low…
MilitaryBoeing Completes KC-46 Phase II Receiver Testing Boeing’s KC-46A next-generation tanker program finished its Phase II receiver certification flight testing after a final set of tests, the company said Monday. The latest flight tests lasted three weeks and…
CommercialLion Air Report Analyzes Pilot Struggle With 737 MAX Trim System The Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 that crashed shortly after taking off from Jakarta on Oct. 29 activated an automatic trim system resulting from erroneous angle of attack (AOA) information and…
MilitaryLockheed Lowering F-35 Simulator Costs Through 3-D Printing Lockheed Martin is using 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, technology to lower the cost of manufacturing F-35 flight simulators by an estimated $11 million over the next five years. Using new…