Bethany Whitfield

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report last Friday highlighting what it called a steady upward trend in runway incursions at towered airports. The report cites the large increase in runway incursions at towered airports in recent years, a number that has risen from 11 incursions per million operations in 2004 to 18 incursions […]

Virgin Galactic has signed a deal to provide NASA with three charter flights on SpaceShipTwo, the suborbital spaceplane slated to take future tourist travelers into space. The deal provides for one full charter flight on SpaceShipTwo, with the option for two additional flights, giving the agreement a potential value of $4.5 million. According to Virgin […]

The Veterans Airlift Command (VAC) has received a donated Eclipse 500 that will aid in the organization’s mission of transporting wounded veterans and their families, according to an announcement at the NBAA Convention last week. To complement the donation, Eclipse Aerospace has vowed to provide the upgrades necessary to keep the jet in service. The […]

Several leading names in aviation gathered to pay tribute to legendary aviator Clay Lacy as he was awarded NBAA‘s 2011 Meritorious Service to Aviation Award, the association’s highest honor, at the NBAA Convention on Tuesday. Bob Hoover, Sean Tucker, Randy Babbitt, Fig Newton, Harrison Ford and Eugene Cernan joined Lacy on stage to celebrate his […]

Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) has agreed to purchase up to 30 Seminoles from Piper Aircraft, the two companies jointly announced at the NBAA Convention in Las Vegas. The deal includes a firm order for 10 Seminoles, to be delivered next year, with the option for 20 additional aircraft for delivery over the following two years. […]

As business aviation leaders from around the world gathered in Las Vegas this week to kick off NBAA, one resounding theme echoed throughout the convention’s opening day: The Obama Administration’s relentless focus on bizav. Several company executives took the opportunity to speak out against the administration’s suggestion that user fees and changes to corporate aircraft […]

Bombardier has begun production of the first Learjet 85 test aircraft, the company announced on Sunday at the NBAA Convention. According to Bombardier, teams in Wichita, Montreal and other locations throughout the world are now actively engaged in the manufacturing validation process. A full-length fuselage, as well as several other key parts of the all-composite […]

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B completed its first shipboard vertical landing on Tuesday, touching down on the deck of the USS Wasp in the Atlantic during preliminary phases of ship suitability testing. The Joint Strike Fighter will continue shipboard testing during the next two weeks, striving to complete a planned 67 landings on the Wasp […]

The Nextant 400XT has received FAA certification, Nextant Aerospace announced on Wednesday, marking the final step in the approval process for one of the most extensively refurbished business jets on the market. The Nextant 400XT is a remanufactured Beechjet 400A upgraded with Williams FJ44-3AP turbofan engines and Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics. The jet […]

An ultralight Cheetah S200 crashed into a Ferris wheel at a festival on the eastern coast of Australia this weekend, leaving the mangled airplane, its two occupants and two children riding the Ferris wheel trapped as emergency crew worked to bring everyone down to the ground safely. The Ferris wheel held as the Cheetah crashed […]