Stephen Pope

We all know making left-hand turns is the proper way to fly a traffic pattern most of the time – unless, of course, you’re landing at an airport with a non-standard, right-hand pattern or flying a straight-in instrument approach procedure. But what about departing from a non-towered airport? Can you make a straight-out departure and […]

Extra Aircraft has received approval form the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the Avidyne Entegra Release 9 integrated flight deck in the German-built Extra EA-500 single-engine turboprop. The certification allows IFR day and night operations in EA-500s fitted with the Entegra Release 9 upgrade. The EA-500 is a turboprop version of the Extra 400 […]

After years of back-and-forth negotiations, Bell Helicopter has at last agreed to sell its stake in the BA609 civil tiltrotor program to partner AgustaWestland. As a result, the tiltrotor is being renamed the AW609. Bell will continue to supply components and engineering support for the tiltrotor, but flight testing and manufacture will move solely to […]

This year’s Paris Air Show is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever as the beleaguered aerospace and defense industries look to rebound after 2009’s running of the international air salon came up far short in terms of orders booked and deals announced.** ** Highlights at the show, which runs June 20 to […]

Cessna Aircraft has landed a contract from the U.S. Air Force for more than two dozen single-engine airplanes, and the timing couldn’t be better. The deal includes six Cessna 182T Skylanes, 26 208B Caravans and six aircrew training devices, all for use in Afghanistan for light-duty missions and training.** ** Cessna has been hurting for […]

Honeywell on Monday said it has agreed to acquire EMS Technologies, an Atlanta-based maker of communications equipment for aerospace and defense industries, for around $500 million in cash. EMS Aviation, a division of EMS Technologies, supplies airborne satellite communications systems and broadband data components for gear that communicates over the Inmarsat, Iridium and Aircell networks.** […]

I’m wondering: Will Honeywell’s announcement that it’s acquiring airborne satcom system specialist EMS Technologies reignite calls for airlines to transmit live flight-data information rather than relying on what can be obtained from black boxes found at a crash site? Here’s why I ask: Honeywell is the maker of the flight data recorder used aboard doomed […]

Despite the widespread adoption of Garmin’s integrated avionics systems in a variety of airplanes from four-place piston singles to turboprops and business jets, never before has the company’s G1000 glass cockpit flown in a helicopter. The conventional wisdom has always seemed to argue against shoehorning Garmin’s wide LCD flight displays into the tight confines of […]

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has taken delivery of its first Sukhoi SuperJet 100, a modern fly-by-wire regional jet intended to compete head to head against hot-selling models from Bombardier and Embraer in the 75- to 95-seat category. Featuring PowerJet SaM146 engines capable of producing 17,000 pounds of thrust and an integrated avionics system developed by […]

Bombardier’s Global Vision flight deck has earned Transport Canada certification, marking the first such approval for the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion-based avionics system. The milestone clears a path for Bombardier business jets equipped Global Vision components to obtain certificates of airworthiness, said Bombardier vice president Stéphane Leblanc. “To date, we have completed over 600 […]