by Isabel Goyer

At the NBAA convention in Las Vegas, Embraer named international film star and martial arts expert Jackie Chan its official brand ambassador. Over the years, the 57-year-old Chan has made more than 100 movies and has estabished himself as a big box office draw around the globe with his clever, funny and frenetic acting, which […]

While in some people’s minds it might stretch the definition of a “hybrid,” Eurocopter’s electric/turboshaft AS350 helicopter a few days ago successfully completed a flight with an electric backup motor. In this case, the motor doesn’t power the main blades for normal flight but assists during autorotation, which, according to Eurocopter, took much of the […]

Moller International announced last week the 50th anniversary of the development of the Skycar, a product that is the brainchild or idea of Paul Moller. The Skycar is not intended as a roadable aircraft, claims the company, but rather as a kind of Jetson’s style replacement for automobiles; hence, the “Skycar” name. The vehicle, which […]

(October 2011) Those of us who have been around airplanes for any length of time understand the concept of stepping up, whereby a nonpilot becomes a pilot, learns to fly in a certain brand of airplane and then remains loyal to that brand while gaining experience and moving up through the model lineup to bigger, […]

In case you missed it, last weekend the FAA issued an “Urgent Airman Notification” for the re-entry of a dying NASA upper atmosphere research satellite. The Notam called for pilots to keep an eye open for debris from the satellite, though it didn’t offer any specific advice about what pilots should do if they were […]

On Monday at its Wichita headquarters, Cessna unveiled its latest bizjet. It was, as many predicted it would be, a replacement for the slot vacated when the company stopped production of its entry-level CJ, the ** CJ1+**. The new airplane is dubbed the M2. Despite the capital “M,” it is not based on the Mustang […]

Continental announced at AOPA Summit that it was launching a new engine, which is similar in design to its long-popular IO-360 six-cylinder 200-hp model that powers the Cirrus SR20, among other models. The engine, the IO-360-AF, will include lower-compression pistons and a lower red line (2,550 rpm compared to 2,700 rpm in many installations) to […]

The annual AOPA convention, now called AOPA Summit, will kick off in Hartford, Connecticut, on Thursday in the middle of one of the worst economic downturns in general aviation history but amid much optimism on the part of exhibitors. The show kicks off early on the calendar this year. It runs from Sept. 22 to […]

On the heels of the news that two more spectators have died in the Reno air crash, bringing the toll to 11 victims, NTSB investigators have announced that they discovered that the accident airplane was outfitted with telemetry and an outward-facing video camera. On Sunday accident investigators found the camera, along with, more importantly, its […]

__In this age of iPads and Androids and apps, is a dedicated portable device still relevant? That’s the question that some might be asking with the unveiling by Garmin of its latest flagship portable, the Garmin 796, which at this writing was top-secret. I have in my hands the only model not located behind lock […]