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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A bill now under consideration in the U.S. Senate would provide grants to flight schools to help them recruit veterans to train to become commercial airline pilots.

A professional pilot, Duane Youd, stole his employer’s Cessna Citation 525 jet and deliberately crashed it into his own house, in Payson, Utah, about 2:30 a.m. Monday, according to police reports. Youd’s wife and a boy, who were in the house, escaped without injury, but he died in the crash.

The National Park Service has ended its efforts to reach the crash site of a de Havilland Beaver, operated by K2 Aviation, that hit the side of a mountain during a sightseeing flight in Denali National Park last week.

President Donald Trump's continued promotion of his personal pilot John Dunkin as the next FAA administrator is apparently the underlying cause of the lengthy delay in nominating a new administrator.

For the second time in less than a month, a vintage airliner carrying passengers has crashed but this time there were no fatalities. The 1944 de Havilland Dragon Rapide biplane took off from Abbotsford International Airport in British Columbia about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday just after the close of the annual airshow for the day.

Trick shots are the hallmark of the Harlem Globetrotters but making a basket from the back seat of a Super Cub was a highlight even for the storied team.

Chief among the many comments and reactions to the suicide by Rich Russell in a Horizon Airlines Q400 on Friday was the wonder about how a ramp attendant could take off and do aerobatics in a regional airliner. Well, Russell may have provided the answer himself.