Any U.S.-registered aircraft can be looked up through the Federal Aviation Administration's public aircraft registry using its tail number. But a raw result only tells you what the FAA has on file. A "valid" registration status is not an airworthiness…

The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 created the Federal Aviation Agency to do three things: modernize the national airways, enforce safety regulations for civil aviation, and consolidate air operations. The same statute told the agency to promote and develop civil…

Heathrow doesn't cap how many planes fly at night. It caps how much cumulative noise they may produce. The Quota Count system assigns every aircraft a noise value, from QC/0.125 up to QC/16, and each movement spends a slice of…

The 16g dynamic seat test is the harder gate for novel aircraft seat concepts to pass — not the 90-second evacuation rule. While the evacuation rule is a whole-aircraft demonstration that any individual seat can be designed around, the 16g…

Airbus's next narrowbody, internally called eAction, is slated for a 2030 launch, with entry into service targeted for the second half of the 2030s. Against the current A320neo family, the program aims for a 20% to 25% lower fuel burn.…

For any transport-category airplane with more than 44 seats, the FAA requires proof that a full cabin can reach the ground in 90 seconds. The test load isn't random: at least 40 percent female, 35 percent over 50, and no…