Championship air racing in Reno is finished after 59 years, interrupted just twice by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and Covid in 2020. The curtain fell on this storied spectacle on a doubly forlorn and somber note, struck not only by its own conclusion but also, on the final day, by the collision of two T-6s positioning to land after the class Gold final race. Chris Rushing and Nick Macy perished, and further racing was canceled, so the final checkered flag never fell on the Jet and Unlimited classes—the event’s biggest draw.

Ever since the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority (RTAA) announced in March that the races this September would be the last at Reno, the question has been why now, 12 years after the horrific P-51D crash that killed 10 spectators in 2011.

Sikorsky Aircraft completed the first flight of an optionally piloted Black Hawk demonstrator in a joint effort with the U.S. Army, the company said. The Black Hawk serves as a second testbed (joining an S-76) for Sikorsky’s Matrix research program to develop and field systems for autonomous vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

Sikorsky conducted the first flight of the Manned/Unmanned Resupply Aerial Lifter (Mural)—an Army UH-60MU Black Hawk—at its development flight center in West Palm Beach, Florida. It flew “a full concept demonstration” of a cargo resupply mission three days later. Testers flew the Black Hawk, which had safety pilots on board, using a man-portable ground control station and line-of-sight datalink.

A two-year Government Accountability Office (GAO) performance audit found that helicopter operations at both the Army and Air National Guard suffered from a lack of pilot proficiency and experience due to limited flight hours and simulator time. Contributing factors included a lack of aircraft availability triggered by inadequate maintenance staffing and quality issues with refurbished aircraft, simulator scarcity, and pilots who are overburdened with administrative tasks.

“What we looked at, I think, definitely has applicability to the commercial world,” said Cary Russell, GAO director of defense capabilities and management, during a recent webinar hosted by the Helicopter Association International.

November is National Aviation History Month when we celebrate our important figures and achievements in aviation—a quintessential American industry. From the Wright Brothers to the first nonstop flight around the world to the earliest example of a helicopter rescue, American aviators and engineers have set the global gold standard in aviation and pushed the boundaries of what was thought possible.

As chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a professional pilot, I have made it a top priority to ensure the U.S. remains the world’s leader in aviation. One critical way to do this is by passing a comprehensive bipartisan bill to reauthorize the FAA.

AeroGuard Flight Training Center placed an order to acquire 90 Piper Archer TX piston single-engine aircraft as it lays the groundwork to dramatically scale up its activities, the companies said this week during the Dubai Airshow. The flight training provider plans to increase its student pilot population to 2,000—from the current 800—by the end of next year and to ultimately double its fleet to more than 200 aircraft. 

With two facilities in the Phoenix area—at Deer Valley and Chandler—another in the greater Austin, Texas area, and a fourth outside of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, AeroGuard trains airline students through agreements with companies such as Cathay Pacific, SkyWest, and Korea Aerospace University.