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Battle of Britain ace fighter pilot Paul Farnes dies aged 101 30 January 2020 The last surviving Battle of Britain ace pilot from World War Two has died aged 101. He was born in Hampshire and died on Tuesday morning in West Sussex, where he had lived for most of his life, His battle victories made Wing Cdr Farnes an ace, a term taken to mean any fighter pilot credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft. His tally was six enemy aircraft destroyed, one probably destroyed and six damaged, the trust said. The trust added Wing Cdr Farnes...

TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (the “Beijing Protocol”), adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization International Conference on Air Law (Diplomatic Conference on Aviation Security) in Beijing on September 10, 2010, and signed by the United States on that same date.  I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to the Beijing Protocol.The Beijing Protocol is an important...

<p>WASHINGTON D.C. - America has now deployed its first female stealth fighter pilot into combat, the Air Force announced.</p> <p>Capt. Emily Thompson, call sign “Banzai,” made headlines after she became the first female to fly the F-35A Lightning II into combat. On June 9, the Air Force released a statement announcing that Thompson had deployed but did not specify when or where.</p>

A Russian cargo carrier has proven once and for all that pigs do fly. More than 3,000 happy hogs have earned their wings, traveling a mile high between Europe and China onboard a Boeing 747 operated by Volga Dnepr. A pig-culiar problem The Chinese are lacking in pigs. You could say they’re squealing out for swine after an outbreak of African swine fever obliterated the nation’s herds of hogs. First detected in August 2018, the deadly disease has decimated the pig population by around 50%. China loves pigs, but not for their superior land clearing abilities or cute curly tails....

May 29 (UPI) -- The world's largest all-electric aircraft took off from a Washington state airstrip for its first flight, staying in the air for 28 minutes, the plane's makers said. The eCaravan plane, a modified Cessna Caravan 208B, was created by a collaboration between engine company magniX and aerospace firm AeroTEC. It took its first flight Thursday in an event that was livestreamed on Facebook. The companies said the electric plane is more environmentally friendly and costs less to operate than its fossil fuel-powered counterparts. "As the world's largest all-electric aircraft, this first flight is a significant milestone in...

A World War II aircraft which was sent to a museum in 1944 was far deadlier than its reputation suggests, according to a historian. The Boulton Paul Defiant had a Rolls Royce Merlin engine - just like the acclaimed Spitfire and Hurricane - but it also had a second seat with a machine gun turret for blasting enemy bombers out of the sky. When it was first introduced into service, Luftwaffe pilots initially mistook the aircraft for a Hurricane and would attempt to roll in behind the aircraft to shoot it down only to be faced by its deadly Browning...

At no point did the pilots say they had a problem with their landing gear or any other type of emergency, according to the radio calls. A deadly plane crash in Pakistan is prompting questions about how the crew could touch down without landing gear when their sophisticated jetliner was bristling with equipment to prevent pilots from doing just that "It is unbelievable to me that an airline crew on a jet like an Airbus, with all the warning systems, would attempt to land the plane without the gear extended," said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant who formerly flew...

A passenger plane belonging to state-run airline Pakistani International Airlines has crashed near the southern port city of Karachi, according to Abdul Sattar Kokhar, spokesman for the country's civil aviation authority.

On Easter Sunday, April 12th, 2009, Doug White and his family chartered a Beech King Air B200 N559DW for a flight from Marco Island, Florida bound for Louisiana with 5 souls on board. Soon after takeoff, the pilot, 67 year old retired Air Force Colonel Joe Cabuk loses consciousness. creating an emergency situation that required extraordinary measures by the planes passengers and Air Traffic Controllers. This video is a recreation of that flight and is intended to honor and pay tribute to the pilots and air traffic controllers.~~~SNIP~~~The Hero passenger who lands the King Air Turbo Prop and saves his...

A three-judge federal appeals court said Tuesday the DOJ’s settlement with Fokker Services B.V. for alleged sanctions violations could go ahead after a district court judge rejected the arrangement as “anemic.” The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC said prosecutors and not judges make decisions to enter into deferred prosecution agreement with corporate defendants. In February 2015, federal district court judge Richard Leon refused to approve the settlement. He said the proposed $21 million penalty was “grossly disproportionate to the gravity of Fokker Sercvices’ conduct in a post-911 world.” Holland-based Fokker Services admitted in a 2014 plea deal that...

While the global economy remains in a state of near ubiquitous lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US military has been busy. According to an update posted on the Pacific Air Forces website, a B-1B Lancer strategic bomber part of the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron was one of two B-1s conducting a training mission in the South China Sea in support of Pacific Air Forces’ training efforts and “strategic deterrence missions to reinforce the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region.“ The training missions follows what Stars and Stripes described on April 30 as a “show of force” by...

1982: The flight of BA9 It was back in 1982 when a British Airways Boeing 747 flew into a cloud of volcanic ash over Indonesia. Due to the airborne particles ingested, all four engines shut off. Technology.org quotes the captain as saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress”. With all four engines not functioning, the aircraft began to glide down towards the earth. Thankfully, one engine eventually regained function...

May 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, also known as the Blue Angels, will fly over Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and New Orleans on Wednesday to honor frontline workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The display is part of a multi-city tour dubbed Operation America Strong, which has visited six cities -- including Washington, D.C. and New York City -- in the last week. According to the Navy, during Wednesday's display a formation of six F/A-18C/D Hornet aircraft will start with a 35-minute display over Dallas/Fort Worth beginning at 11 a.m. Central time, then proceed to Houston for a...

The Pentagon has declassified three previously leaked top-secret U.S. Navy videos that show “unexplained aerial phenomena” and that some believe could show Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in an effort “to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real or whether or not there is more to the videos,” said a Pentagon spokesperson. “The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified'”, the spokesperson added. “The Department of Defense has authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, one taken in November 2004 and the other two in...

The skies are eerily empty these days, presenting a new challenge for the world’s embattled airlines as they work to safeguard thousands of grounded planes parked wingtip to wingtip on runways and in storage facilities. More than 16,000 passenger jets are grounded worldwide, according to industry researcher Cirium, as the coronavirus obliterates travel and puts unprecedented strain on airline finances. Finding the right space and conditions for 62% of the world’s planes and keeping them airworthy have suddenly become priorities for 2020. Aircraft can’t simply be dusted back into action. They need plenty of work and attention while in storage,...

The mayor of a northern California city, who recently stepped down after comparing supporters of President Donald Trump to members of the Ku Klux Klan, has been killed in a plane crash, reports say.Neon Nettle reported last week that Auburn Mayor William Kirby had compared the president and his supporters to the KKK, triggering a backlash online which prompted him to step down.

The former mayor of a Northern California city who stepped down after he harshly criticized President Donald Trump and his supporters has been killed in a plane crash. Dr. Bill Kirby, who was the mayor of Auburn, died in the crash Saturday morning near the Auburn Municipal Airport, officials have said.

A small plane caused a stir Thursday morning when it landed on a highway near Quebec City. Motorists who were driving on Highway 40 near the municipality of St-Augustin-de-Desmaures alerted the police around 10:40 a.m. Sgt. Helene Nepton of the provincial police said the aircraft landed without incident, and nobody on the plane or on the highway was injured.

United Airlines said on April 15 that it has cut its flight schedule by 90 percent in May and expects similar cuts for June as a result of the CCP virus pandemic, and warned that travel demand that is now “essentially at zero shows no sign of improving in the near term,” making job cuts likely. United disclosed its outlook in a memo to employees that it publicly released. The memo was from Chief Executive Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby. Like other U.S. airlines, travel demand for Chicago-based United has cratered as most U.S. states have ordered residents to...

A surprise company outing to an air base caused a 64-year-old French man so much stress that he flung himself from a fighter jet in midair, grabbing the ejector button in a panic and tumbling through the skies above France before landing in a field. The man had been surprised by employees at his firm, who had organized a joyride in a Dassault Rafale B jet for him as a treat. But they apparently didn’t know their colleague as well as they thought. Once the man arrived at the Saint-Dizier air base in northeastern France and realized what his co-workers...