Stephen Pope

The FAA today awarded Eclipse Aerospace an amended production certificate authorizing the final assembly, test and certification of the Eclipse 550 very light jet. The original production certificate the FAA granted Eclipse last year allowed the Albuquerque, New Mexico, company to manufacture the Eclipse 550 and its parts in compliance with the FAA-approved type design, […]

Pilots are singing the praises of ForeFlight’s latest Version 5.0 update of its mobile charting app for the iPad — and after flying with the updated software, we have to agree that it’s great. The biggest change is the addition of terrain and obstacle warnings through the Hazard Advisor feature. The add-on highlights hazardous terrain […]

The airport board for Felts Field Airport (KSFF) in Spokane, Washington, is suing the FAA to block the shutdown of its control tower, one of 149 facilities due for closure as part of agency sequestration cuts. The FAA has notified the airport that it will shut down the Felts Field tower on April 7. The […]

In the FAA’s rush to shut down scores of the nation’s contract control towers, nobody within the agency saw it necessary to perform a thorough analysis of the potential safety ramifications. Nor did the agency conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to consider, among other things, the millions of dollars it took to build the towers […]

A Boeing 787 completed a two-hour flight on Monday in the first test of the troubled airliner’s redesigned lithium battery system. The Dreamliner departed Everett, Washington, just after noon local time and flew along the Pacific coast into Oregon before returning to land at Paine Field. Afterward Boeing said the flight went “according to plan.” […]

The FAA has released a three-part phase-in period for closing 149 of the nation’s contract control towers. The shutdowns will start on April 7, when 24 federal contract towers will close, followed by 46 on April 21, and the remaining 79 on May 5 (see the full list below). The FAA says it is closing […]

A California teenager convicted of shining his laser pointer at two aircraft in flight has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison as part of a federal crackdown on such incidents. Adam Gardenhire, 19, aimed his commercial-grade green laser in March 2012 at a Cessna Citation on approach to Bob Hope Airport […]

Beechcraft has filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims contesting the U.S. Air Force’s decision to reject its protest of a multimillion-dollar light attack aircraft contract awarded to Embraer earlier this month. In a statement Beechcraft said the Government Accountability Office (GAO) continues to review its protest of the $428 million Light Aircraft Support […]

SportairUSA, the distributor of the Sting and Sirius light sport models, and World Aircraft Co., developer of the Spirit and Vision LSAs, have chosen the Vertical Power VP-X Electronic Circuit Breaker System to manage the electrical system and control of trim and flaps. The VP-X integrates with EFIS units from Dynon, Grand Rapids Technology and […]

Harrison Ford visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to lend his considerable star power to the plight of more than 200 control towers slated to close as part of the so-called government sequester. The actor joined aviation industry leaders at a special meeting of the House General Aviation Caucus to warn members of Congress and their […]