Stephen Pope

Manufacturers will deliver around 5,000 civil turbine-engine helicopters in the next five years as global demand remains fairly steady, according to Honeywell’s latest market forecast. Plunging oil prices and a roller-coaster ride of world currencies have caused some short-term market uncertainty, but in its 17th annual helicopter purchasing outlook Honeywell foresees a return to modest […]

The FAA has validated EASA’s certification of the AgustaWestland AW189 medium twin-engine helicopter, clearing the way for customer deliveries in the United States to start soon. AgustaWestland received the validation following flight testing activities with the FAA earlier this year. The AW189 is designed for longer range, higher capacity requirements for SAR, offshore, and corporate […]

Air Methods, one of the world’s largest air medical transportation providers, announced an order for 200 of Bell’s newly introduced 407GXP light single-engine helicopter for EMS duty at bases across the United States. The order marks one of the biggest commercial sales in Bell Helicopter’s history, not to mention one of the largest orders in […]

AgustaWestland this morning showed off the AW609 prototype for the first time in a public venue — and in the process gave clarity to the future direction of the civil tiltrotor market with a paint scheme boasting Bristow and Eastern Airways colors. Bristow Group, one of the world’s largest offshore helicopter operators, has committed to […]

Airbus Helicopters answered many of the questions surrounding its X4 medium twin-engine helicopter development program today by officially unveiling a full-size mockup of the new H160 on the show floor at Heli-Expo in Orlando, Florida. A successor to the Dauphin family, the H160 features newly developed Blue Edge main rotor blades that are quieter and […]

I read a startling statistic recently. In 2013, there were more than 11,000 reported bird strike incidents among commercial, military and general aviation airplanes in the United States. That’s a lot of birds hitting a lot of aircraft. And now researchers think they know why bird strikes are so common in aviation. It turns out […]

The airplane repo agent has been tracking this prey for weeks. Sitting on the ramp is his prize — a pristine, late-model Piper Malibu with a gorgeous paint job and perfect leather interior. A loan payment hasn’t been made in months, and the bank wants this asset back now. It should fetch a premium price […]

Dubbed “The Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2,” new measures introduced last night in the House and Senate would allow private pilots to no longer hold a third class medical certificate for noncommercial VFR and IFR flights in aircraft weighing up to 6,000 pounds with up to six seats. The legislation, authored by a group of […]

Continental’s new IO-360-AF “alternative fuel” engine has received type certification from the FAA, making it the first six-cylinder piston aircraft engine approved to run on standard 100LL avgas or unleaded 91UL gasoline. The first application will be in the Flight Design C4 carbon four seater. Continental says the IO-360-AF family offers a maximum power output […]

We’ve all seen B-roll video footage of robots busily building cars on an assembly line, spinning and whirling with impressive precision and nary a human in sight. But you’ve probably never seen anything like this. Researchers in Germany have connected a robotic arm to the cockpit section of an airplane to create perhaps the world’s […]