aviation

I would no sooner pilot a plane than marry a fish.

So I am always reassured when the voice from the cockpit is one of ineffable calm.

Sometimes, though, pilots must be suffering nervous conniptions when the weather turns on them and, say, the runway disappears as they are landing.

This quite pulsating footage was uploaded to YouTube this week. It shows a Boeing Business Jet landing in rain.

The windshield wipers are working furiously. Suddenly the runway seems to vanish.

The calm decision-making that leads the pilot to abort the landing and try again freezes the lay mind.

What … Read more

For airplane enthusiasts, there's nothing quite like a first flight.

And for fans of Airbus' A350 XWB, this meant that Friday morning provided one of the best treats of all.

With thousands on hand near the Airbus headquarters in Blagnac, France (just outside Toulouse), its next-generation A350 XWB took off on its first flight this morning.

The A350 XWB is Airbus' response to three planes from archrival Boeing: the troubled but still popular 787 Dreamliner, as well as the 777 and 777-X. The new Airbus was designed to be one of the most fuel-efficient planes ever, thanks largely to … Read more

Airbus has confirmed that the A350 XWB will make its first flight Friday, a milestone that marks perhaps the last highly touted inaugural flight for years to come.

Over the last 10 years, aviation enthusiasts have been treated to a series of exciting first flights, from Airbus' A380 to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 Intercontinental. But with no other game-changing airplanes set to be launched in the next five years or more, the A350's first flight could be it for a while.

There has been significant speculation in recent weeks that the plane would take flight in time … Read more

The solar-powered Solar Impulse plane has set a world's record, and its journey across America still has a few more legs to go.

Flying the second and longest leg of the journey, pilot Andre Borschberg landed the plane in Dallas/Fort Worth on Thursday, achieving a record for the longest distance flown by a solar-powered aircraft. The 1,541 kilometers (957 miles or 832 nautical miles) beat the previous record of 1,116 kilometers (602 nautical miles) held by Borschberg when he flew the Solar Impulse from Switzerland to Spain in May 2012.

Borschberg, the CEO and co-founder of … Read more

Five months later, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is once again aloft.

United Flight 1 took off from Houston Monday morning en route to Chicago. It marked the first flight of Boeing's next-generation airliner since the entire worldwide fleet of Dreamliners was grounded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January in the wake of multiple on-board fires.

The fires were found to be related to the plane's batteries, and in the months since then, Boeing and its suppliers have worked to correct the problems. Last month, the FAA approved Boeing's proposed fix to the battery issues, … Read more

Following a bicycle down the runway at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., a solar-powered airplane took off on a coast-to-coast voyage across the U.S. this morning to promote the message of clean technology.

Piloted by Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA set off for Phoenix, Ariz., on the first leg of its Across America journey that will also take the slender craft to Dallas, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and finally New York in early July.

The goal is to go from one end of the country to the other without using a drop of fuel. … Read more

If you know the American Midwest like the back of your hand, I want to pick your brain.

Starting around July 1, I'll be heading out on CNET Road Trip 2013, my eighth-annual journey in search of some of the most interesting destinations for technology, military, aviation, architecture, nature, science, manufacturing, and so on. I'll start in Chicago and spend a month or so traveling through Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, and possibly Indiana, Iowa, and/or Minnesota.

A couple of months ago, I posted here asking for suggestions of where I should stop, offering a … Read more

It seems no one is immune from the lure of the cell phone. Not even pilots. Not even in midflight.

National Transportation Safety Board records show that the pilot of a medical helicopter sent and received texts before the helicopter crashed in Missouri, killing four people.

As Bloomberg reports, the helicopter was operated by Air Methods Corporation, an air medical transport contractor whose policy forbids its pilots from using their cell phones in flight. The company didn't respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment, according to the news agency. We've contacted Air Methods and will update this report … Read more

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing's plan to redesign the batteries of the 787 Dreamliner airplanes but testing is needed before the planes can serve passengers again, the Associated Press reported today.

The planes were grounded in January when the batteries of one, a Japan Airlines 787, caught fire.

The Federal Aviation Administration told the AP that Boeing's plan includes "a redesign of the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system."

Boeing said it submitted … Read more