Stephen Pope

Has the market for GA piston airplanes finally turned a corner? Maybe not just yet, but we’re starting to see welcome improvements based on numbers from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, whose latest figures show that aircraft deliveries grew by more than 20 percent in this year’s first quarter. The 221 piston airplanes shipped in […]

A California airshow was cut short on Sunday when longtime aerobatic pilot Eddie Andreini crashed in his modified “Super” Stearman while attempting an inverted cut-the-ribbon pass. The vintage blue-and-silver biplane hit the ground and caught fire in front of the crowd, killing the 77-year-old. Andreini, an experienced aerobatics pilot who had performed in nearly 1,000 […]

If you ever feel rushed while flying, take a deep breath, gather your thoughts and return to the task at hand — and whatever it was you were doing, do it more slowly. After all, very few things in aviation need to be done in a hurry. Rushing will only cause you to make mistakes. […]

AOPA president Mark Baker sat down with the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently to deliver a message: Unwarranted stops of general aviation airplanes by CBP agents must end. The response from the agency’s new top official? We agree. AOPA says it has received more than 50 reports from members who have been […]

If you want real value from an airplane backed by a company with a great track record and a long history, look no further. The FAA has given its stamp of approval for Quicksilver Aircraft to begin producing and selling the factory-built Sport S2SE, a two-seat special light sport aircraft (S-LSA) that will sell for […]

Malaysian officials released a preliminary report on Thursday detailing missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370’s mysterious journey on March 8, providing the first complete glimpse of the timeline with maps showing the Boeing 777-200ER’s presumed flight path. According to the official account of what happened, Flight 370 departed Runway 32R from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at […]

We recently told you about Airbus’s ambitious plans for the VoltAir concept, a proposed electric-powered airliner that could take to the skies within 20 years — that vision is one step closer to reality with the successful flight test of a prototype electric airplane, called the E-Fan, in Bordeaux, France, that Airbus says was built […]

A Piper Lance flying in foggy weather in central South Dakota yesterday crashed into the blade of a wind turbine, killing the pilot and three passengers. The FAA has confirmed that the 1978 Piper PA-32R-300 struck a blade of the wind tower outside Highmore, South Dakota, in poor weather, but offered no explanation as to […]

Suddenly, the so-called “Part 23 rewrite” has grown from a simple tweaking of aircraft and equipment certification standards to a full-on international effort to harmonize regulations around the world. Changing the rules of the game for how manufacturers approve new technology for light airplanes by shifting from the federal aviation regulations (or their international equivalent) […]

Everybody knew it was only a matter of time before layoff notices started going out when Cessna and Beechcraft completed their mega merger earlier this year. That process officially started yesterday as parent company Textron Aviation announced that about 750 full-time and contract employees will lose their jobs. Saying it made “very difficult decisions” about […]