The Doolittle Raiders, the Silver Goblets, and the Last Toast in Dayton
How 80 men flew B-25 bombers off a carrier deck to bomb Tokyo in 1942 - and kept a 71-year promise to honor their fallen.
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Every article from Radio Hangar - aviation history, technology analysis, flight training, destinations, and news.
The F-22 Raptor Controls an Autonomous Wingman in Flight for the First Time
In early October 2026, an F-22A Raptor pilot commanded an autonomous YFQ-44A Fury in flight - the first airborne control of a Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
TowerThe FAA Air Traffic Controller Pay Deal and What the Staffing Crisis Behind It Means for Every Pilot Flying Today
The FAA and NATCA reached a 2.8% pay deal with new work requirements, but a 3,000-controller staffing gap remains the deeper threat to system capacity.
TowerThe FAA Ownership Stake in Air Space Intelligence and What It Means for the Future of Air Traffic Control
The FAA is seeking an equity stake in Air Space Intelligence, maker of the Flyways AI platform - raising conflict-of-interest questions about regulatory independence.
TowerThe Garmin Emergency Autoland, the Piper M Six Hundred SLS Certification, and What Happens When a Passenger Has to Land the Airplane
Garmin's Emergency Autoland, certified in October 2020 on the Piper M600 SLS, lets an untrained passenger land a turboprop by pressing a single button.
VectorThe Granville Brothers, the Gee Bee Super Sportster, and the Most Dangerous Race Aircraft of the Golden Age
The Gee Bee R-1 Super Sportster set a 252 mph Thompson Trophy record in 1932 - and the one man who flew it to its limit immediately retired from racing.
TaildraggerThe Lilium Jet, the Thirty-Six Ducted Fans That Rejected Every Other eVTOL Playbook, and What the Bankruptcy and Rebirth of Germany's Air Taxi Gamble Tells Us About the Real Cost of Going First
Lilium burned $1 billion and went bankrupt in October 2024 before being revived - revealing eVTOL's real certification and capital challenges.
VectorThe MAYDAY Call, the Hesitation That Kills Pilots Who Still Have Time to Land, and the Drill Every Student Needs Before Going Solo
Learn when and how to declare a MAYDAY or PAN-PAN, why pilots hesitate too long, and the drill every student should complete before solo flight.
PatternThe Nineteen Eighty-Seven Beechcraft Bonanza A36, Buying Modernized in a Million-Dollar New Aircraft Market, and What a Top Pick Listing Actually Tells You About Used Aircraft Value
A 1987 Beechcraft Bonanza A36 recently featured as an AircraftForSale top pick reveals what 'modernized' actually means - and whether the premium is worth paying.
TowerThe One Nautical Mile Drone Restriction Along the Southern Border and What Every Operator Needs to Know Before the Next Launch
The FAA has established an indefinite one-nautical-mile drone no-fly buffer along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, affecting all commercial and recreational operators.
TowerThe Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser, the Lifting Body Lineage That Runs from Edwards Air Force Base to Low Earth Orbit, and the Spaceplane Designed to Land on a Runway
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser traces its aerodynamic DNA to NASA's 1960s lifting body research at Edwards AFB, built to land on a runway like a conventional aircraft.
VectorThe VFR Flight Plan, the Thirty-Minute Overdue Trigger That Starts a Search, and What Happens When Nobody Closes It
A VFR flight plan is a search and rescue trigger, not a clearance - here's exactly how to file, activate, update, and close one every time.
PatternThe Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent Wing Bird the Navy Rejected, and the Marines Who Gave It a War to Fight
The Vought F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier operations yet became the most feared propeller-driven combat aircraft of World War II in the hands of Marine aviators.
TaildraggerThe Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Last Great Aviation First
On December 23, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager landed at Edwards Air Force Base after completing the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world aboard the Voyager aircraft.
TaildraggerThe Winnie Mae, Wiley Post's Lockheed Vega, and the One-Eyed Oilfield Worker Who Circled the Globe Alone and Discovered the Jet Stream Before Anyone Knew What to Call It
How a one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck flew a wooden Lockheed Vega around the world twice and discovered the jet stream before science had a name for it.
TaildraggerWop May, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, and the Arctic Manhunt That Brought a Bush Pilot Into Minus Fifty to Chase a Ghost
In February 1932, bush pilot Wop May flew into Arctic winter to help end Canada's largest manhunt for the Mad Trapper of Rat River.
TaildraggerBessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Chicago Manicurist Who Learned French to Earn the World's Most Hard-Won Pilot Certificate
Bessie Coleman became the first African American and first person of Native American descent to earn an international pilot's license in 1921, after every American flight school refused her.
TaildraggerBeta Technologies, the ALIA Two-Fifty, and the Vermont Company That Decided Building the Charging Network Is the Real Problem in Electric Aviation
Beta Technologies pairs a 250-mile electric aircraft with its own charging network - a systems-first approach that separates it from every other electric aviation startup.
VectorBob Hoover, the Focke-Wulf He Stole From a German Airfield, and the Greatest Airshow Act in the History of Aviation
Bob Hoover flew combat in WWII, escaped a German POW camp in a stolen Focke-Wulf 190, and performed the greatest airshow act in aviation history.
TaildraggerCarl Ben Eielson, the Rescue Flight to the Nanuk, and the Night Alaska Lost Its Greatest Bush Pilot
Carl Ben Eielson pioneered Alaska aviation in the 1920s, flew the first transarctic flight in 1928, and died on a November 1929 mercy mission to a fur-trading ship locked in Siberian pack ice.
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