Stephen Pope

It was a dramatic scene on the tarmac at Singapore’s Changi Airport on Monday when a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 caught fire moments after making an emergency landing. All 241 people on board the jetliner evacuated safely shortly after firefighters battled the blaze, which started near the right engine before growing out of control and […]

Dassault Aviation’s new flagship, the Dassault Falcon 8X, achieved European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification. FAA certification is expected in the coming weeks, with entry into service planned for this fall. Three aircraft were used in the flight test program, which totaled more than 830 hours on 400 flights. Those airplanes will now be used […]

Piper’s M600 single-engine turboprop achieved FAA type certification last week, adding a new model to the Vero Beach, Florida, manufacturer’s lineup that features more power and improved avionics. The $2.853 million M600 features the same Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-42A engine as the Piper M500, but power has been boosted from 500 to 600 shp, […]

It was a policy that never made a lick of sense in the first place, and now it’s going away. The FAA yesterday issued a final policy on “non-aeronautical use of hangars” that purges terms like “incidental use” and “insignificant amount of space” from the document. As a result, the FAA will consider the construction […]

Look for two new Mooney models to make their debut appearances at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this summer after the Kerrville, Texas-based manufacturer flew the first Ovation Ultra, a version of the original Ultra that will roll out of the factory with an array of upgrades. Mooney chief test pilot Mike Miles flew the new model […]

In an effort to spur adoption of ADS-B avionics ahead of the 2020 equipment mandate, the FAA yesterday announced a rebate program for owners of U.S.-registered piston airplanes — but as you might guess, there’s a catch. Once the incentive program goes into effect in September, the first 20,000 aircraft owners to equip with ADS-B […]

Icon Aircraft’s announcement yesterday of a sharp production cut and layoffs of 60 full-time workers comes at crucial time for the California startup. With deliveries anticipated to be in full swing by now, the company instead is shifting its delivery schedule by about a year as it continues to burn through its cash reserves. But […]

Reacting to a public backlash that erupted after Icon Aircraft began circulating a 40-page purchase agreement that the company asked buyers of the A5 light sport amphibian to sign before they took delivery of their new airplanes, the California manufacturer has replaced the contract with a far simpler document that removes nearly all of the […]

The FAA has deemed the B-29 known as Doc airworthy, handing over the airworthiness certificate for the historic airplane, the first flight of which is “imminent,” according to restoration group Doc’s Friends in Wichita, Kansas. “It’s been nearly 60 years since Doc has flown and 16 years since this majestic warbird arrived in Wichita to […]

The National Transportation Safety Board raised serious concerns over the FAA-proposed Part 23 Rewrite proposal, cautioning in comments on the recent notice of proposed rulemaking that the revised certification process for light airplanes could allow inferior designs to slip through the cracks, impacting safety. The NTSB’s concerns are quite similar to the warning about the […]