Stephen Pope

1. Because they lack an ignition source (i.e. magnetos and spark plugs), diesels incorporate glow plugs for cold starting. Heat from compressed air ignites the fuel-air mixture. 2. Diesels must use high-pressure fuel injector nozzles to pump fuel directly into the cylinders. The injector has to be able to withstand the temperature and pressure inside […]

| What pilots in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia already know about aviation diesels — or, to use the more technically precise term, compression-ignition engines — we’re slowly learning for ourselves here in America. And the more we learn, the more we’re starting to think we could get used to the smell of jet […]

Wheels Up, the newly launched membership-based private aviation company based on a fleet of King Air 350i twin turboprops, has taken delivery of its first airplane and selected Gama Charters of Stratford, Connecticut, to operate its U.S.-based fleet. Beechcraft will maintain all the King Airs in the Wheels Up fleet, which will be staged at […]

Aircell has rolled out several notable upgrades and enhancements to its Gogo in-flight Internet services, starting with Gogo Vision, a Netflix-style entertainment service for the cabin, plus a new IP-based talk and text service that can link directly with passengers’ personal smartphones. Gogo Vision in an on-demand in-flight entertainment and information service for the business […]

Talk about a vote of confidence. Cessna says it will market, sell and install Tamarack Aerospace’s innovative active winglets for the CitationJet family – on the CitationJet through the CJ3 – starting in 2015. Tamarack’s active winglets provide the performance advantages of traditional winglets while adding what the maker calls the “active technology load alleviation […]

Honeywell advanced technology guru Bob Witwer gave an interesting talk in Las Vegas this week in which he discussed the future of air travel and posed the intriguing question of whether airliners, cargo planes and business jets years from now will have a need for pilots or, indeed, even cockpit windows. If the thought of […]

The ink has barely dried on Flexjet’s history making $5.2 billion order with Bombardier but the fractional ownership provider is already changing the deal — which suits Bombardier just fine. Flexjet announced yesterday it has converted options for 30 Learjet 85s that it placed last month to firm orders and has asked for options on […]

Garmin is upgrading the features and capabilities of its touchscreen GTN series navigators with the addition of optional Class A TAWS capability, ADS-B Out compatibility with third-party transponders and the ability for pilots to create custom messages on the GTN display. The enhancements are available now in new GTN units as well as through a […]

It’s one thing to accrue the knowledge and skills you need to pass the private pilot checkride, but to advance beyond the basics you should strive to fly more like professional pilots do. And the best pilots for general aviation pilots to emulate are the pros who fly bizjets. Unlike airline pilots who fly predictable […]

Honeywell’s latest business aviation market forecast released on Sunday offers a mix of good and not-so-good news for aircraft manufacturers, painting a generally optimistic picture for builders of large-cabin jets, but taking an opposite view of the light jet market, which is predicted to remain essentially flat for the next several years. Overall, business jet […]