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Long-time readers will recall my several scribblings in opposition to proposals to privatize the U.S. air traffic control (ATC) system, and my encouragement to those same readers to communicate their views to their federal elected officials. Im happy to report our opposition to this solution in search of a problem has been successful: On February 27, U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Penn.), the proposals architect and chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced he would remove it from pending FAA legislation.

No matter how rewarding and clean and bright it feels to say, “I’m going for it,” there is always a nagging doubt that maybe, just maybe, this is nuts. So it has been for me since my wife and I bought the airplane of my 50 years of flying dreams, a Beech Premier 1. Fast […]

In June 2017, President Trump led off Infrastructure Week with his plan to move ATC to a nonprofit, private corporation. With two bills already in Congress, D. J. Gribben, special assistant to the president for infrastructure, called it low-hanging fruit from a policy perspective. Little did he know how incendiary the word privatization is to the aviation community. Mr. Gribben often uses this word, but savvy proponents avoid it and even refute those who use it.

For the 14th year, the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo welcomed visitors to Sebring, Florida, in January, providing respite from the cold for northerners and a chance for prospective buyers to take a demo flight in a Light Sport Aircraft. The show hosted about 100 exhibitors, more than last year, and organizers told AVweb ticket sales also were up. About 60 forums were held, and more than 1,000 youngsters took part in the shows youth education programs. The date for next years event is January 23 to 26.

Most general aviation pilots dream at some point about owning an airplane. There are no substitutes for the ability to jump into your own airplane and take off wherever, whenever, without any scheduling, time restrictions and costly minimum daily requirements. Or are there? If you’re not flying at least 100 hours per year, full ownership […]

GE Aviation has a name for its new Advanced Turboprop engine that its engineers began development work on in 2012. The ATP engine is now the GE Catalyst Advanced Turboprop, a name that “represents GE Aviation’s commitment to moving the turboprop market forward through innovation.” Hallmarks of the new 900- to 1,700-shp engine include better […]

Dassault Aviation, seeking for a way to revive its ambitions in the super-midsize category after the cancellation of the Falcon 5X development program last year, yesterday introduced the Falcon 6X, a new 5,500-nm twinjet that is due make its first flight in early 2021 and begin deliveries in 2022. Dassault has selected Pratt & Whitney […]

Supporters and opponents of efforts to sever the nation’s air traffic control system from the FAA were surprised Tuesday night when Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) announced he was dropping his controversial ATC privatization plan and removing it from any further House consideration, at least for now. Shuster’s proposal to create a not-for-profit corporation to operate […]

As economic conditions continue to improve globally this year, buyers are holding firm to purchase expectations that should see between 4,000 and 4,200 new civil helicopters delivered in the next five years, according to Honeywell’s latest forecast released on the eve of Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, which opened its doors this morning. In its latest […]

Its easy to look at controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents as the kind youll never get into. Sure; you may suffer an engine failure from contaminated fuel, or scrape a wingtip while landing in a stiff crosswind or even forget to put down the gear before landing. But flying a perfectly good airplane into the side of a mountain? Never happen. The thing is, Im relatively certain every pilot who was ever involved in a CFIT accident said the same thing at one point or another, perhaps right up until the moment a tree trunk came through the windshield.