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In a conference call with reporters, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill just disclosed that she failed to pay $287,000 in property taxes related to her co-ownership of a private aircraft. This scandal comes quickly on the heels of recent revelations that McCaskill improperly billed taxpayers for use of the same private aircraft, for which McCaskill reimbursed the Treasury $88,000:

Communist Czechoslovakia delivered 181 L-39 Albatros fighter planes to Libya in the 1980s that can still be used by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the current unrest there, daily Lidove Noviny (LN) writes Saturday. Albatros's predecessor L-29 Delfin ("Dolphin") proved an ideal weapon in the struggle against ground targets such as in the conflict in Nigeria in the late 1960s, LN writes. The history may repeat. Delfin helped massacre the rebels in the Nigerian province of Biafra in the late 1960s and then Gaddafi used the Albatrosses to put down a rebellion in Benghazi and other Libyan towns in 1979,...

Libyan forces have been launched fresh offensives again Zawieh, 30 miles from Tripoli, and Misrata, 125 miles to the east. Rebels said some 2,000 troops loyal to the regime had surrounded Zawieh, but that they had succeeded in holding on to the town centres. "An aircraft was shot down this morning while it was firing on the local radio station," a witness, who was identified only as Mohamed, said by telephone from Misrata. "Fighting to control the military airbase started last night and is still going on," he added.

Aircraft, cargo ships and fishing boats are moving towards Libya to evacuate Chinese nationals living in the North African country. Tunisian, Turkish and other workers are fleeing the country as well. Tripoli – China will send a jet, ships and fishing vessels from nearby waters to evacuate some 33,000 Chinese nationals working in violence-torn Libya. The government has set up an emergency unit headed by Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang to coordinate the repatriation of mainlanders, as well as people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The State Council (cabinet) “decided to immediately deploy...

The legend of the Alaskan bush pilot is infused with feats accomplished in aircraft that are rarely seen anywhere else. We have all seen the videos of pilots landing on sand bars and in tight tree-lined mountainous areas. Each year at the Valdez Fly-In and Air Show they celebrate the tradition and skill of the bush pilot with the Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) competition.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina and Michigan State are closing in on a deal to play a basketball game on an aircraft carrier next season. Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said on his radio show Monday night that the teams hope to play on Veteran's Day in San Diego on a carrier. Larry Gallo, a senior associate athletic director at UNC, said Tuesday that a contract isn't in place yet. "We feel as though all systems are go, we're just trying to finalize" details, Gallo said. "But until you have a contract, a deal hasn't been consumated."

(CNN) -- A Delta Air Lines flight reporting an engine problem made an emergency landing Thursday at the Colorado Springs, Colorado, airport, officials said. Two passengers suffered minor injuries during the evacuation

The story that made the rounds of the world that a Muslim man was apprehended on an Air Malta plane when he persisted in praying out aloud in the aisle just as the plane was taxying to take off at London’s Heathrow Airport, now has to be revised. It was a Caribbean Christian man, Maria Busuttil who was on the plane with him, told The Times. And the prayer he was chanting was the ‘Our Father’. Yet even yesterday on In-Nazzjon, Brian Grech who had a hand in restraining the man, still insisted the man was an Arab Muslim. Writing...

Anyone from Michigan see the stealth-type aircraft flying southwest of Detroit, Monroe County today?

The Air Force hasn’t been told when to begin work on a new long-range strike aircraft, or even what it should be able to do. The Air Force is hoping there’s a new bomber included in the Fiscal 2012 defense budget planned for release next month. If there is, it will be the centerpiece of a new portfolio of long-range strike weapons systems, which will encompass standoff missiles, older bombers, airborne electronic attack (AEA), carrier-based aircraft, and possibly a quick-reaction missile able to hit any global target within an hour. Deliberations on the long-range strike system have been a subject...

Systems will provide laser warning sensor sets to protect U.S. military aircraft under a $17.7 million contract by Alliant Techsystems. The contract provides components for the AAR-47 Missile Approach Warning System, part of the ongoing U.S. Navy road-map of airborne protection and system improvements for U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army and foreign allied fleets. The laser detection sensors provide critical warning systems for hostile threats. "With more than 16,000 systems delivered to date, this award continues our support to Alliant Techsystems and the Navy team," said David Millspaugh, director of Product Support for Soldier & Vehicle Solutions in Austin, Texas....

(Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier group set off for Korean waters on Wednesday, a day after North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island, in a move likely to enrage Pyongyang and unsettle its ally, China.....

Nothing more yet, just announced by Shep....

It was US Airways flight 808 Or was it? New evidence points to UPS902 One of my commenters below has given me some critical information that has lead me to update my assessment of what flight caused the "mystery missile" contrail. Make no mistake, I stand by my assertion that the event was nothing more than a contrail, however, new, solid data has come in that has me changing my theory that the contrail in question was not caused by US Airways flight 808 (AWE808) but rather my second contender, United Parcel Service flight 902 (UPS902). In fact I believe...

Aviation China to showcase world's aircraft Xinhua, November 9, 2010 The 8th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, to be launched on Nov. 16 in Zhuhai, China's mainland, will showcase about 70 aircraft of different models from all over the world, the event organizer announced here Tuesday. The exhibition organizer Zhuhai Airshow Co. Ltd. held a press briefing in Hong Kong on Tuesday and introduced the details of the show, which has attracted about 600 exhibitors to join. The show, with a floor space totaling 23,000 square meters, will feature about 70 aircraft, including both commercial and military ones, from...

Intelligent advanced aircraft is one thing, but if the Air Force wants to be in prime warfighting condition, its pilots had better come with advanced weaponry, too. That’s why the Air Force wants neuroweapons that can enhance airmen’s performance, while degrading the mental states of their foes. The Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing just updated a call for proposals that examine “Advances in Bioscience for Airmen Performance,” according to Wired's Danger Room. The initial announcement came out last November, but no one has yet come up with new stimulants that help airmen focus, or models that fuse...

"More than two dozen injured U.S. troops, including six critical-care patients, have been loaded onto the C-17 transport aircraft destined for Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Then everyone aboard gets the bad news: There's a fuel leak, and the aircraft may not be able to fly today." ... "The Air Force has ordered 213 C-17s to date, but further orders depend on a battle between Congress, which has pushed to extend the production line, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who wants to halt further purchases."

The French aircraft carrier which is set to play a key role in defending Britain over the next decade has broken down. As President Nicolas Sarkozy prepares to use a London summit this week to announce that RAF jets will fly from the carrier Charles de Gaulle, his naval chiefs have told him that she is no longer seaworthy. ‘She is meant to be heading to Afghanistan but is instead in her home port with a faulty propulsion system,’ said a French Navy source.

Three years ago, a navigator in the rear seat of a British Tornado jet fighter died when he fell out of the aircraft. Details of the accident are only now being made public. At the time, the aircraft had just undergone some updates and was undergoing a flight check. Some of the maintenance work involved the ejection seats. But the work on the rear ejection seat left a small (5 cm/two inch) metal part installed incorrectly. This allowed the ejection seat to come lose when the aircraft was momentarily upside down. Part of the ejection system worked, and the canopy...