Mark Phelps

Cessna Chairman President and CEO Jack Pelton was honored Wednesday night along with FedEx Corp. by the Lindbergh Foundation. Pelton received the 2010 Lindbergh Award, presented annually “to individuals whose work over many years has made significant contribution toward the Lindberghs’ [Charles’ and Ann Morrow Lindbergh’] concept of balancing technology and nature.” Lindbergh Foundation Chairman […]

The Hawker Beechcraft display at Sun ‘n Fun featured a unique, signature edition of the twin-engine G58 Baron. The limited edition 50th anniversary Beechcraft Baron celebrates half a century of production for the iconic light twin. This version has high-performance Hartzell Scimitar propellers, some signature interior amenities and a choice of four color schemes dedicated […]

Flight Design president and chief operating officer Matthias Betsch arrived at Sun ‘n Fun direct from the Aero general aviation show in Friedrichshafen, Germany. He reported that the event included a meeting of several national aviation regulatory bodies including the FAA, Europe’s EASA, and governmental aviation regulatory agencies from China, Brazil, India and others. Betsch […]

Sun ‘n Fun was the backdrop for a pair of happy presentations. Flying presented its previously announced 2009 Editors’ Choice Awards to Avidyne for its Release 9 update to the Entegra integrated avionics suite; and to Diamond Aircraft for — not just one, but two upgraded versions of its DA42 light twin. One of the […]

The biggest photo op for Piper at Sun ‘n Fun was the first delivery of a PiperSport light sport aircraft (LSA). Three co-owners took delivery of their new airplane, with the common thread being their high levels of flying experience. Two were former airline pilots and current Airbus simulator instructors with 20,000 and 16,000 hours […]

A graph showing the current U.S. fleet of light sport aircraft showed Flight Design dominating. With more than 300 aircraft flying, the German-based manufacturer bests its closest rival by a wide margin. At Sun ‘n Fun, Flight Design demonstrated its intention to expand its market share even further with new and upgraded models and some […]

Aspen Avionics bundled a number of announcements and began releasing the information at last week’s Aircraft Electronics Association show, also here in Florida. The beat continued this week at Sun ‘n Fun with more announcements from the prolific Albuquerque-based company. Two years after launching its product line, Aspen reports that more than 2,600 of its […]

At Sun ‘n Fun, Garmin also announced it was bundling annual database updates for its 495/496- and 695/696-series portable GPS navigators. Buyers can now purchase packaged annual updates including Jeppesen NavData; Obstacles; Terrain; AOPA airport guide; FliteCharts; and SafeTaxi. The packages for the 695/696 cost $699, $499 without the NavData. European customers pay $399 for […]

Garmin broke the news just before Sun ‘n Fun. It was offering its dedicated synthetic vision technology (SVX) for its G300 (exclusive to the Cessna 162 SkyCatcher) and G3X avionics packages designed for Light Sport and Experimental category aircraft. SVX will be standard on all new G300 and G3X packages and will also be available […]

The unofficial kickoff for GA events kicks off next week at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (KLAL) in Florida. The 36th annual Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-in & Expo opens Tuesday, April 13, and runs through Sunday, April 18. As many as 170,000 visitors are expected from more than 80 countries. More than 475 exhibitors will […]