Stephen Pope

Private and recreational pilots can now access the new online Mayo Clinic BasicMed Course, a free education program for pilots pursuing medical qualification through FAA BasicMed that is an alternative to completing the course on AOPA’s website. “We’re pleased to be able to provide this new option for pilots,” said Clayton Cowl, director of the […]

GE Aviation completed the first test run of its new Advanced Turboprop engine, a clean-sheet design that will power Cessna’s forthcoming Denali business turboprop and go head to head with Pratt & Whitney’s venerable PT6A engine family. GE says the Advanced Turboprop incorporates more 3-D-printed components than any production engine in aviation history, comprising 35 […]

That New York Times story about a secret government UFO program and close encounters between Navy airmen and unexplained flying objects over the vast Pacific Ocean reads like a science fiction story. Which was how the paper wanted it. Scratch beneath the veneer of the borderline-sensationalist reporting and we’re left with many more head-scratching questions […]

On the front page of its Sunday edition, the New York Times ran an attention-grabbing story about a secret Pentagon program established in 2007 to investigate UFO sightings. The key items of intrigue from the companion article posted on the Times‘ website on Saturday are videos showing an encounter in 2004 by two Navy F/A-18 […]

After a three-year delay that was made much worse this past fall by news of more technical problems with the Safran Silvercrest engines for the Falcon 5X, Dassault today said it is cancelling the jet’s development program and starting fresh with a new large-cabin airplane powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines. The new jet […]

A plea deal has brought a swift conclusion to the legal case against Theodore R. Wright III and three of his accomplices, who were charged in July with a massive insurance fraud scheme involving airplanes, a $100,000 sports car and a luxury boat. The highest profile crime involved the 2012 ditching of a Beech Baron […]

Slovenian aircraft maker Pipistrel is forging ahead with production plans for the Alpha Electro electric-powered two-seater and hybrid Panthera four-seater in a deal with a Chinese entrepreneur to build airplanes in China. Pipistrel founder Ivo Boscarol owns 51 percent of the newly formed Pipistrel Asia-Pacific joint venture, with the remaining 49 percent controlled by Chinese […]

The Zulu 3 active noise-reduction headset from Lightspeed is hard to beat, with exceptional sound quality and extra features, such as Bluetooth, cellphone interface and auto-shutoff, plus supreme comfort, all for a price of some lesser headsets. The durability of the Zulu 3 sets its apart as well. It features a stainless-steel headband and Kevlar […]

Building on a three-decade business relationship with FedEx Express, Textron Aviation today launched a clean-sheet high-wing utility twin turboprop, the Cessna SkyCourier 408, due to enter service in 2020. Powered by a pair of 1,100 shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65SC engines, the SkyCourier will be capable of loading three standard LD3 shipping containers through […]

The newest version of Sporty’s Learn to Fly course is now available, and it’s the biggest update ever, featuring hours of updated HD video and the ability to switch among three viewing formats (online, iPhone/iPad and Apple TV) for one price. A student’s progress as he or she takes the course automatically syncs no matter […]