One of India’s largest airports will be closed until at least Aug. 26 after torrential rains put ramps and runways under about three feet of water. Cochin Airport, in the southeastern state of Kerala, has had almost three times the normal rainfall this monsoon season and the airport was closed last Thursday.

Two pilots died in a midair collision on Saturday when their paragliders came together during a race in Macedonia. One of the pilots, Innes Powell, was well known in the hang gliding and paragliding community in the U.K. and was taking part in the British Open Paragliding Competition in Kusevo, Macedonia.

Historic Flight Foundation founder John Sessions has been confirmed as the pilot of a 1930s airliner that crashed while taking part in a Canadian airshow last weekend.

Operations at Manila Airport in the Philippines have returned to normal almost two days after a Chinese airliner left the runway on landing late Thursday. The Xaimen Airlines Boeing 737 ended up in a muddy infield after a second landing attempt in heavy rain.

This week's letters brought comments from readers about unleaded avgas replacements, the Q400 suicide crash, and autonomous Skyhawks.

The FAA has issued a statement warning pilots of unmanned aircraft (UAS/drones) to stay away from wildfires. The agency emphasized that while proper use of drones for firefighting missions can provide a lot of useful information, unauthorized flights risk lives, especially since firefighting operations typically occur in the same airspace as the majority of hobby drone flights – at or below 200 feet AGL.

This week, AVweb’s weekly new roundup uncovered reports on National Aviation Day celebrations at the Air Zoo and a visit from members of the U.K.’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation.

The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a contract to configure nine F/A-18E and two F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Blue Angels demonstration team. The contract for getting the eleven Super Hornets ready for their debut with the Blue Angels, which is worth approximately $17 million, was awarded to Boeing on Monday.

After more than ten years in development, the Privateer Amphibian made its first successful flight last week. The single-engine pusher from Privateer Industries was designed by John Meekins and Bill Husa. It has been reported that the flight went well in spite of minor instrumentation issues that prevented some of the planned testing.

Authorities in China opened 93 new general aviation airports in the first half of this year, Xinhua reported this week, bringing the total number of GA airports nationwide to 173. The country now has a total of 404 airports, including 231 civil airports.

With Congress back in session this week, the fight over FAA reauthorization has resumed. Thirty-three GA organizations signed a letter sent to Senate leaders on Wednesday, asking them to get it done.

Gulfstream Aerospace has announced that it is beginning FAA certification field performance testing on its Gulfstream G600 long-range business jet. The aircraft made its first flight on Dec. 17, 2016. Since then, Gulfstream says its five G600 test planes have made more than 600 flights and accumulated over 2,290 flight hours.

With a follow-on to the skyBeacon wingtip ADS-B Out product that's been snagged in FAA TSO certification, uAvionix announced what it calls a zero-install ADS-B Out solution. It's called the tailBeacon and it has a 2020 ADS-B manadate-compliant ADS-B Out system packaged in an LED position light that can use some existing tail position light wiring. The TSO'd version is expected late September 2018, while an experimental version is available now.

The National Weather Service needs to do a better job of forecasting low-level turbulence, which can affect GA pilots, the NTSB said in a recent Safety Recommendation. The recommendation is part of the safety board’s ongoing investigation of the crash of a Pilatus PC-12 in April 2017.

NASA has announced new partnerships with six U.S. companies to develop technologies related to space exploration. The accepted proposals cover three strategic technology focus areas: Expand Utilization of Space, Enable Efficient and Safe Transportation Into and Through Space and Increase Access to Planetary Surfaces.