Return of 737 Max Nears

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Tuesday it will soon issue a formal notice to allow for public comment ahead of an Airworthiness Directive that would clear Boeing’s 737 MAX to fly passengers again. This step is a clear signal that federal approval for the 737 MAX to return to service again in the U.S. is approaching. However, a person familiar with the process and the steps ahead said that a formal ungrounding is now unlikely before mid-October. (www.seattletimes.com) More...

Concorde Successor AS2 Takes Leap Forward

The race is heating up to produce the first supersonic passenger aircraft to enter commercial service in more than 50 years. US planemaker Aerion, whose AS2 jet promises to fly New York to London in 4.5 hours, is seeking to produce the supersonic craft in 2023 after securing $300 million in capital investment. The 8-12 passenger AS2 business jet will travel at Mach 1.4 (more than 1,000 mph), which means it could shave three and a half hours off standard journey times from New York to Cape Town,… (www.cnn.com) More...

FedEx Seeks FAA Review of Lasers to Protect Cargo Flights from Missiles

FedEx wants to equip some of its aircraft with military-style missile defense technology. If allowed to do so, the airline could fly over contested areas that might otherwise be closed off to air traffic, according to a filing with the Federal Aviation Administration. The missile defense system directs infrared laser energy toward an incoming missile in an effort to confuse the missile’s tracking of the aircraft’s heat. (www.nbcnews.com) More...

Alexa and Siri coming to the flight deck

Researchers and engineers at Honeywell Aerospace are working on aircraft systems that can be controlled by voice. Pilots will be able to give commands and have a virtual assistant perform tasks to reduce pilot workload. It's the latest step towards fully autonomous self-flying aircraft that experts say will roam the skies by 2050. (www.businessinsider.com) More...

Complaint Made Over Airline's Weighing Passengers for Safety Reasons

A pair of American Samoan businessmen have filed complaints to the US Transportation Department over claims they were weighed before they boarded a flight from Honolulu – and assigned specific seats to keep the aircraft’s load evenly distributed. (www.telegraph.co.uk) More...

United Flight 5919 diverted to Indianapolis after dropping 22,000 feet

The flight en route from Charlotte to Chicago early Sunday morning (Aug. 8) reportedly dropped 22,000 feet unexpectedly, and was diverted to Indianapolis International Airport. (www.indystar.com) More...

Would You Fly in a Pilotless Commercial Plane if it Meant a Cheaper Ticket?

The world’s aviation industry will need to train and deploy more than 600,000 new pilots over the next 20 years. But, then again, the industry might be operating fleets of commercial jets flown by remote control. Those are the seemingly contradictory outlooks described in separate reports by aerospace giant Boeing and Swiss banking powerhouse UBS. (www.chicagotribune.com) More...

China’s New Jetliner, the Comac C919, Takes Flight for First Time

China’s commercial aerospace dreams took wing on Friday, as the first Chinese-built passenger jetliner completed its first public flight test, embodying the country’s ambitions to take on the industry champions, Boeing and Airbus. The aircraft landed safely, and Comac, its manufacturer, declared it a success. But the program still has a long journey ahead. (www.nytimes.com) More...

Aurora Flight Sciences building robot co-pilots that don't panic or get tired

From the outside, the single-engine Cessna Caravan that took off from a small airport on Monday looked unremarkable. But inside the cockpit, in the right seat, a robot with spindly metal tubes and rods for arms and legs and a claw hand grasping the throttle, was doing the flying. (www.cbc.ca) More...