Aircraft

French luxury jet builder Dassault threw down the gauntlet at EBACE in Geneva with the launch of the Falcon 8X, a new flagship trijet that is intended to go head-to-head with the class-leading ultra-long-range Gulfstream G650 and Bombardier Global family. The 19-seat Falcon 8X is a stretched version of the Falcon 7X that will boast […]

Gulfstream launched its latest luxury bizjet offering at a press conference preceding today’s opening of the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland. Improving upon its highly successful G650, the Savannah, Georgia-based company launched the G650ER — ER for extended range — enabling the business jet to fly an additional 500 nautical […]

Icon Aircraft, the maker of the much talked about amphibious Icon A5 LSA, has announced the location of its new headquarters, where the airplane will be produced and delivered once the company completes the ASTM approval process for the LSA. Icon is moving into a 140,000-square-foot facility in Vacaville, California and, based on a video […]

Pipistrel has received some good news that will allow the Slovenian company to continue to deliver its LSAs to customers in the United States. Representatives from the FAA have gone through the company’s manufacturing plants in Slovenia and Italy, conducting an operations audit that verified Pipistrel’s products, production organization, continued airworthiness procedures, maintenance aspects and […]

Capping one of the most contentious and hardest fought competitions for government aircraft ever, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin secured a $1.24 billion contract to begin building a new presidential helicopter based on Sikorsky’s S-92. The winning team was the only bidder in the latest phase of a decade-long effort to start replacing Marine One, the […]

George Bye, the founder of a company called Bye Aerospace who proposed an electric-powered Skyhawk a few years ago, is shifting his focus to a two-seat trainer called the Sun Flyer. Bye and his business partner Charlie Johnson have formed a company called Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. to build an electric LSA in Colorado based […]

Even though it’s likely only a temporary reprieve, it’s still good news for supporters of the A-10 Thunderbolt II as backers seek to head off the iconic tank buster’s imminent retirement. A House Armed Services Committee panel has voted to delay deactivation of the A-10, affectionately known as the Warthog, meaning the full House will […]

With Europe being one of Robinson Helicopter’s most successful regions for sales, the Torrance, California-based helicopter manufacturer is likely breathing a big sigh of relief as it has achieved certification for its R66 Turbine helicopter by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The signoff allows Robinson to start delivering helicopters to a backlog of European […]

Several media companies including The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Associated Press have challenged the FAA’s authority to prohibit the press from flying drones in search of a story. In a briefing filed this week with the National Transportation Safety Board, a group of 16 media outlets argued that current FAA regulations […]

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 […]