Mark Phelps

Austro Engines, a division of Diamond Aircraft, has capped two and a half years of developing its AE80R rotary aircraft engine with successful bench testing. The company announced the tests yesterday, saying the new engine is a higher-power derivative of its successful 55-hp AE50R rotary. Target weight of the AE80 is less than 60 pounds. […]

Tamarack Aerospace, which last fall introduced its “active winglet” technology, has received an order for three shipsets of the winglets from Premier Jet Aviation in Florida. Premier plans to incorporate the winglets in its “CJ Plus” retrofit of Cessna Citation CJ (Model 525) series jets. The Tamarack winglets are expected to be certified for the […]

Congress not only extended accelerated “bonus” depreciation rules for business-related aircraft purchases, but also upped the limits on what businesses can spend. There had been some concern that temporary tax rules designed to buttress the industry would fall victim to the last minute deal cut to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Instead, businesses can now […]

According to his mother, 17-year-old student pilot Jordan Smith had his own key and access to the security code provided by the owner of a Piper Twin Comanche in Jasper, Alabama. But on the night of New Year’s Day, the teen, who did not have a pilot’s license, apparently decided to take two friends for […]

Most pilots have enjoyed flying over their houses for a look-see, and Cessna Skylane owner David Zehntner is no exception. But on a flight from North Carolina to his LaBelle, Florida, home, he and his wife spotted something out of the ordinary. He told reporters, “At about 800 feet, we fly over our house. We […]

Four illustrious pilots will be enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) for 2013. The inductees include Charles Alfred Anderson; Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady; Captain Robert “Hoot” Gibson; and Dwane Wallace, who will be honored at a black tie dinner. Anderson and Wallace will be inducted posthumously. Charles Anderson is called “the father […]

With an eye toward increasing oversight of coming unmanned aerial vehicle operations, the Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act is now under consideration as a bill in the House of Representatives. Introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Tuesday, the bill is designed to “provide guidance and limitations” to language in the FAA funding reauthorization […]

At the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) meeting in August, acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told the drone industry trade group, “We need to change the way we do business … we are going to allow new ideas to soar to their potential. Our goal is to safely and efficiently integrate unmanned systems […]

First it was the World War II pilots retiring en masse. Then the Vietnam-era group. Though warnings of impending pilot shortages have come and gone, actual hiring numbers have never seemed to coincide with the predictions of large-scale retirements. But a group of aviation advocacy associations and businesses has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) […]

The 1969 Learjet 25 that crashed in the early morning of December 9, killing singer Jenni Rivera and six others, was owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management LLC. But the company said the fatal flight was not a charter. Rather, it was described as a final demonstration flight in anticipation of Rivera purchasing the jet […]