Drone And 172 Collide, Skytypers Team Member killed In PA crash, U.S. Orders Airlines to Help With Evacuations

In Buttonville, Ontario, Canada, a Cessna 172 on a training flight collided with a drone while on short final at about 500 feet AGL. Local police said that one of their officers had been operating the drone. Pilots in the area expressed great concern over the circumstances behind the apparent airspace breach.

The United States has officially called upon U.S.-based airlines to provide flights to aid in the evacuation of U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan. A handful of airlines will supply a total of 18 airliners to be used in transporting passengers, not from Afghanistan but from intermediate locations where they will be flown by United States Air Force aircraft. The program, known as the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, has been used only a handful of times, most recently in the early 2000s during the Iraq wars.

With the delta variant of COVID-19 wreaking havoc across the United States, several aviation organizations have either mandated or come close to mandating vaccinations for their employees. This week, Delta Airlines announced that employees who choose not to get vaccinated will have to pay more for their health insurance, have limited sick time if they catch COVID-19 and be required to take weekly tests to see if they have the virus.

The NTSB has issued its preliminary report on the crash of a Bombardier challenger 605 jet near Truckee, CA, in which all six aboard the business jet were killed. The pilot had been cleared to fly a circle-to-land approach to runway 11 at Truckee Tahoe airport, and his acknowledgement of that clearance was the last transmission from the flight. The aircraft crashed onto a golf course near the airport narrowly missing a school bus carrying local children, igniting a fire that local firefighters quickly extinguished.

Florida Tech purchased a Pipistrel Velis Electro aircraft as it investigates the business case for using such aircraft in its flight school operations. The purchase is exploratory, the school said, at least for now, as the aircraft is not yet certified by the FAA for commercial use.

Sonex unveiled plans for a high-wing model to add to its lineup of very light homebuilt kit planes. There is already great interest in the model from prospective builders, and the company plans to have a flying high-winger at next year's Oshkosh AirVenture.

The FAA has signaled its interest in electrically powered zero-emissions vehicles at U.S. airports. The vehicles in question are, of course, ground vehicles used in airport business. The agency awarded more than $20 million in grants toward encouraging the use of such vehicles.

Speaking of FAA largesse, the agency awarded more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in grants for airport improvements across the country. There were more than 250 grant recipients in the 2021 awards.

None of the 14 occupants aboard a Gulfstream G-IV was seriously injured when the twinjet's nosegear collapsed after it went off the runway during an aborted takeoff at Florida's Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. The jet received substantial damage in the mishap.