On The Fly…

A set of heroic landing gear will get a place of honor at the Smithsonian. The gear from an Air Transat A330 held despite enormous stresses in an emergency crash landing on the Azores in 2000. The plane had glided to a 250-mph landing at Lajes after a fuel problem emptied the tanks over the mid-Atlantic. The gear is being restored before being put on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport…

Australia’s revamped aviation regulations are paying off for manufacturers. Government officials claim the new regs, which are harmonized with U.S. and European rules, are giving companies like Gippsland Aeronautics an edge in the world market. Gipplsand recently sold the U.S. Civil Air Patrol some of its Caravan utility aircraft…

Forget homeland security or military uses, this UAV has an important mission. The Clark University UAV Applications Center in California recently tested a small remote control aircraft to help ensure a good vintage from area vineyards. During the cool months, temperature readings gathered by the UAV will help the vineyard owners tell when and where grape-killing frosts can cut their yields…

A southern British Columbia airport has been temporarily closed to GA. Kelowna International, a busy GA facility, has barred private planes so a fleet of firefighting aircraft can operate unimpeded. Commercial flights are unaffected. A massive forest fire is threatening the city and more than 25,000 of 100,000 Kelowna residents have been evacuated…

American military aircraft entered Russia in force last week but not for the purpose for which they were designed. F-15s, F-16s and a B-52 were featured at the Moscow International Air Show. The show was held at a once-secret flight test base…

A triple celebration of a century of innovation was a flop with fans in Bloomington, Ill. Wings and Wheels, marking 100 years of airplanes, Fords and Harley Davidsons, attracted just 2,500 people and organizers blamed the lack of attendance on poor support from community leaders.