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United States aviation news

Family Escorted Off JetBlue Flight, Says Airline Called Them "Animals"

A woman who claims her family was escorted off a JetBlue flight on Tuesday says a flight attendant "antagonized" her family prior to the confrontations that she says led all nine family members to being detained. Keren Kimchy and her family -- a total of five adults and four children -- had boarded the flight at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and were headed to t...

AOPA, NBAA Join UAS Registry Task Force

NBAA and AOPA are joining a new task force charged with devising a proposed registration system for private and recreational unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx detailed plans this month for a UAS national registry and announced the creation of the UAS Registration Task Force Aviation Rulemaking Committee (AR...

Gulfstream Aerospace Climbs Ever Higher in 3Q

Gulfstream Aerospace continues to be a star performer at parent company General Dynamics, with the aerospace segment reporting its highest-ever quarterly revenue and the fifth consecutive quarterly profit exceeding $400 million. Year-over-year, third-quarter aerospace revenue climbed $548 million, to $2.343 billion, while profits rose by $15 million, to $426 million, General Dynamics chairman and&...

Sun Aviation receives IS-BAH

Sun Aviation of Vero Beach Florida, has received its International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) certification. The company is the second US based FBO to receive the certificate. “The receipt of the IS-BAH Certification represents nearly a year of hard work by the Sun Aviation team.” Pete Holman, director of Operations at Sun Jet Center said: “The rec...

Gulfstream G500 passes 100 flight hours

The Gulfstream G500 has flown more than 100 hours over 45 flights. The longest flight so far has lasted for 5 hours and 22 minutes. Since the aircraft’s first flight in May, the test aircraft has flown up to 38,500 feet/11,735 meters and reached a maximum airspeed of Mach 0.80. “It’s just really exciting to see how well this aircraft is performing. This plane has bee...

U.S. Federal agencies ban e-cigarettes from checked luggage

The U.S. DOT and FAA have issued an “interim final rule” prohibiting e-cigarettes and other “electronic nicotine delivery systems” from being carried in checked baggage. Delta already barred the practice. E-cigarettes may be taken on board in carry-on luggage but not used in flight. The new federal rule also prohibits the charging of such devices and their batteries aboa...

Bell Helicopter's brand adds new Ops Platform/Step for the Bell 429 aircraft

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company announced its Aeronautical Accessories brand has added a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Special Ops Platform/Step to its product line for the Bell 429 aircraft. This new convenience accessory received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from the FAA in September. The Special Ops Platform/Step is a lightweight, all-aluminum constructi...

With Deliveries Up, Cessna Preps for Longitude's NBAA Debut

Third-quarter revenue at Textron Aviation rose $79 million, to $1.159 billion, from a year ago, thanks to more Cessna Citation shipments, while profits jumped by $45 million, to $107 million. The Textron subsidiary delivered 37 Citations and 29 King Airs during the quarter, compared with 33 Citations and 30 King Airs in the same period last year. Backlog as of September 30 was $1.4 billion, essent...

Delta to Leave U.S. Airline Trade Group in 2016

Delta Air Lines Inc has decided to split from the trade group Airlines for America (A4A), the airline and the group said on Tuesday, a move that could weaken U.S. airlines' ability to lobby as a united front in Washington. The split, effective in April 2016, comes after Delta has diverged from the group's position that the private sector should help govern the U.S. air traffic cont...

Boeing wins $898 million contract for 15 EA-18G fighter jets

Boeing Co (BA.N) has been awarded a contract worth $898 million to build 15 more EA-18G Growler electronic fighter jets and associated airborne electronic attack kits for the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon announced on Monday. The contract runs through January 2018, the Defense Department said in its daily digest of major contract awards.

Lockheed wins $260 million for materials for next C-130J transports

Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) has won a contract worth $260 million for the purchase of materials need to build the next batch of 28 C-130J Super Hercules transport planes in fiscal 2016, which began Oct. 1, the Pentagon said on Monday. The contract runs through April 30, 2017. Lockheed reached agreement with the U.S. Air Force on a five-year contract to build up to 83 C-130J planes for the A...

Wal-Mart Seeks to Test Drones for Home Delivery, Pickup

Wal-Mart Stores Inc applied Monday to U.S. regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories, a sign it plans to go head-to-head with Amazon in using drones to fill and deliver online orders. The world's largest retailer by revenue has for several months been conducting indoor tests of small unmanned aircraft systems -- the t...