Aviation News

First-quarter aircraft shipments figures released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association point to an industry still being buffeted by economic headwinds nearly eight years after the Great Recession of 2008. All fixed-wing aircraft segments posted declines compared with last year’s first quarter numbers, as reported GA airplane billings dropped 9.5 percent by value to $4 […]

The Project Advisory Committee (PAC) for the Port of Portland has voted for a master plan that aims to significantly shrink the Portland-Troutdale Airport (KTTD), located 10 miles east of the city of Portland, Oregon. The plan calls for the 5,400-foot by 150-foot runway to be cut down to 4,500 by 75 feet in 2020. […]

The Purdue Research Park Aerospace District in West Lafayette, Indiana, announced a partnership that will make the university a sales, maintenance and training center for Italy’s Tecnam, a maker of general aviation piston airplanes. “There is a tremendous challenge of pilot scarcity in U.S. aviation. One of our most important endeavors is to train and […]

The Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday that China is preparing to invest 77 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) in civil aviation infrastructure in 2016, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). “The general aviation sector, especially aircraft research and manufacturing, has became a hot spot of both industrial upgrading and social concern,” said Feng […]

JetAviva, the Austin, Texas-based light jet sales and training specialist, has reached an agreement to buy Kansas Aircraft Corp., a Kansas City-area piston aircraft and turboprop sales broker, creating one of the country’s most formidable light aircraft resale firms. KAC, a former Cessna authorized dealer, was purchased three years ago by Tim and Dianne White, […]

The FAA announced the formation of an advisory committee to guide it on the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace, a group that will be led by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. The committee will help the FAA finalize hotly anticipated regulations for the commercial operation of drones in civil airspace, which […]

In an intimate screening at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, the premiere of a short version of what may become a full feature movie based on Rinker Buck’s highly acclaimed memoir Flight of Passage was shared with a full house of viewers. The true story follows Buck and his brother Kernahan, who in […]

Solar Impulse cofounder and CEO André Borschberg took flight yesterday in the all-solar-powered Si2, beginning the journey across the contiguous United States. Borschberg flew from Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California, to the Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Goodyear, Arizona, at the western edge of the Phoenix metropolitan area. As far as an Si2 flight […]

On April 30, jet ski champion Franky Zapata broke the Guinness World Record of farthest hoverboard flight, piloting a Flyboard Air between Carry-le-Rouet and Sausset-les-Pins in southern France. Zapata cruised about 164 feet above the surface of the water, setting a new benchmark distance of 7,388 feet. His record-breaking flight covered more than eight times […]

It’s a great name for an optionally piloted airplane. FLARE, the Flying Laboratory for Aeronautical Research, will take to the skies soon as part of an Italian aerospace research center project that will transform a Tecnam P92 two-seater into an unmanned, or at least unpiloted, test bed. Italy’s civil aviation authority has signed off on […]