Julie Boatman

The FAA and industry jointly grant a handful of awards for general aviation pursuits each year, and the GA Awards leadership recently announced those they have honored for 2021. The awards for National Flight Instructor, Aviation Technician, and FAASTeam Rep of the Year will be presented at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in July. The […]

Dassault Aviation’s Falcon 6X long-range, ultra-widebody business jet made its first flight from the company’s facility at Mérignac, France, near Bordeaux, on March 10, 2021. The flight was made in honor of pilot, politician, and company heir Olivier Dassault, who died on March 7 in an Airbus AS350 helicopter accident in Normandy with another pilot. Pilots […]

Blue Line Aviation, of North Carolina, has ordered 50 new DA40 NGs and DA42-IVs, and a Diamond Simulator, with an option for up to 50 additional aircraft. The company is celebrating its eighth anniversary, and it already has 16 aircraft on the flight line—with 10 DA40 NGs and two DA42-IVs in service. “I’m thankful to everyone that has played […]

In May 2020, Bearhawk Aircraft launched the latest addition to its line of kit-built backcountry-ready airplanes with the Model 5—a six-place tailwheel aircraft “designed to fly fast and land slow,” according to a company release on March 1. That news shared that the first four of the Model 5 kits had gone out to customers, […]

When you’re facing a major update to your legacy airplane’s instrument panel, it’s easy to get distracted by the big-ticket, high-visibility items such as integrated flight decks, navigators, and large-format multifunction displays. While the utility of such cool new avionics appeals, the unsung heroes in a new panel don’t get as much attention—and they should. […]

Aviation forums cover a wide range of special topics and exist on a variety of channels. Knowing which deliver the best advice and community will help you steer clear of those who might derail your training with bad information. Greg Brown’s Student Pilot Pep Talk Group on Facebook stands out above many, and it can […]

This spring, in Xenia, Ohio, a very special mission is planned to honor and celebrate the centennial birthday of Jim “Pee Wee” Martin. The Inland Empire Wing of the Commemorative Air Force in Riverside, California, has committed to flying its C-53D, D-Day Doll, to Xenia for the event on April 23 to 25, 2021, joined […]

A trio of former Cessna Aircraft Company executives has joined forces to launch a program to rehabilitate and upgrade legacy Cessna Citation Excel jets, first certified in April 1998 and precursors to the Citation XLS that debuted in 2004. The group, CitationPartners LLC, based in Wichita, Kansas, has christened the refurbished mid-sized jets “Citation Excel […]

The organization began as a Facebook group focused on providing support and mentorship for women who have pursued careers as pilots. Now, membership has grown to 11,800 members at last count, and it’s developed to the point where it is able to offer scholarships to eligible pilots, including type ratings. The application window is open […]

Business and general aviation weathered the storm of a generation in 2020, and now that the skies are slowly clearing, the resilience and innovation of the industry is coming to light. That’s the primary message from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s State of the Industry conference, demonstrated not only in the prevailing attitude and observations […]