Mark Phelps

Operating a TBM 850 from Daher-Socata has just gotten more financially viable. The company announced last week it is launching a co-ownership program called “Fly And Share Your TBM” or, F.A.S.T. The plan is said to be ideally suited to a pair of owners; one with two-thirds ownership and the second with one-third. Each share […]

The most recent AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s Joseph T. Nall Report on general aviation safety was released late last week, and the message is mixed. In statistics analyzed from 2007, the report shows that overall accidents increased, despite declining flight hours, but fatalities declined. The rate of fatal accidents was also lower, evidence that pilots […]

Two of aviation’s biggest heroes will hold court at EAA’s Theatre in the Woods the evening of July 31. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeff Skiles will attend various other events during the annual EAA AirVenture extravaganza at Oshkosh’s Wittman Field (July 27 to August 2). Along with the rest of their crew, […]

Sir Richard Branson calls her “EVE” and his Virgin Galactic space venture is relying heavily on the fruits of her performance envelope. That envelope expanded recently with a third test flight taking EVE to a speed of 140 knots and an altitude of 18,000 feet. The more official name is WhiteKnightTwo (aka WK2) and the […]

Cirrus announced yesterday it has selected the Garmin G1000-based Perspective avionics suite for its developmental personal jet, the Vision. The Perspective package was introduced last year on Cirrus’s piston aircraft models and includes synthetic and enhanced vision features. The prototype Vision jet will be fitted with its new avionics package this month and begin flight […]

Teledyne Continental announced yesterday that it has made significant strides in getting the lead out of its assets-piston aircraft engines. The Mobile, Alabama engine-maker announced completion of a series of flight and test-cell trials with an unleaded fuel-labeled 94UL-replacing 100 Low Lead aviation gasoline powering engines ranging from the O-200 (100-hp range) to the IO-550 […]

General aviation groups are cheering the nomination of Randy Babbitt to lead the FAA through difficult skies ahead, including the upcoming modernization of its air traffic control system. Babbitt is a pilot and former president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Among his most profound challenges will be to push permanent funding legislation through […]

Cessna confirmed that the crash of a second Model 162 SkyCatcher prototype last week resulted from an unrecoverable spin. Nevertheless, Cessna remains committed to the light sport aircraft project. Company CEO Jack Pelton explained, “We test all our aircraft well beyond the limits of what is expected in normal operation.” In the second SkyCatcher accident, […]

There’s great temptation during your aircraft’s annual inspection to take a long vacation and leave the cell phone turned off. What you don’t know won’t hurt you — until you get the bill. Another way is to embrace the maintenance process. Not that you need to actually dip into the elbow grease (though some do), […]

After “reluctantly” taking over from founder Vern Raburn as head of Eclipse Aviation last summer, Roel Pieper was unable to resurrect the company as it existed back then. Now, Pieper has thrown the weight of his experience and expertise behind Eclipse Jet LLC-also known as “New Eclipse,” one of the companies vying to acquire the […]