Aviation News

As part of ringing in the new year, Robinson Helicopter has added new avionics options to its R66 Turbine helicopter. Customers can now choose Garmin’s G500H glass panel and the Genesys Aerosystems HeliSAS autopilot. Previous glass-panel options for the R66 include Aspen Avionics’ PFD and MFD solutions. Garmin’s G500H brings primary flight and navigation information […]

Daher-Socata announced that the introduction of the TBM 900 single-engine turboprop translated into a 27 percent increase in sales from 2013 to 2014. Since the French airplane manufacturer’s launch of the new version of the speedy turboprop last March, it delivered 51 of the airplanes before the end of the year. 2014 ended up closing […]

The pilot, 73, had more than 18,000 hours and an ATP certificate. He and his wife, an instrument-rated private pilot with over 800 hours, kept several airplanes, all vintage or Experimental, on their private strip in northeastern Pennsylvania. One of these was a taxicab-yellow 1944 Cessna T-50 “Bamboo Bomber,” a five-seat steel-tube-and-fabric taildragger with two […]

Remember when we made a big deal last month about the FAA permitting more training time in flight simulators to count toward the instrument rating? Well forget about it. The FAA formally withdrew that policy today, and then reinstated the mind-boggling requirement that instrument students wear Foggles or other view-limiting devices while flying on instruments […]

Canada’s Bombardier said today it is halting its Learjet 85 development program amid weak business jet demand and will lay off about 1,000 employees at its sites in Querétaro, Mexico, and Wichita, Kansas. The Lear 85 is the first all-composite business jet from Bombardier, and was to become the new flagship of the Learjet division […]

The Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology has entered into an agreement with Aero Electric Aircraft Corp., reserving the first 20 production slots for the Sun Flyer solar-electric training aircraft. “This agreement signifies our commitment to innovation and to serving the next generation of pilots,” said Peter Harris, CEO of Spartan College based in Tulsa, […]

After three long years marked by a series of unexplained delays, AOPA President Mark Baker sent a blistering letter to the head of the Department of Transportation this week to tell him pilots are fed up with the government’s foot dragging over 3rd class medical reform. Writing to DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx that it is […]

Crop dusters and firefighter pilots in Europe now have a new airplane option as Thrush Aircraft Company has received the sign off from the European Aviation Safety Agency for its Thrush 510G. With a price tag of around $900,000, the turboprop single received FAA certification in 2012 and has also been approved in Canada, Argentina […]

An experimental Lancair 320 crashed around 1:15 p.m. on Friday shortly after departing from Van Nuys Airport in Southern California, an FAA spokesman said. The Lancair ended its short journey at the busy intersection of Hayvenhurst Ave. and Vanowen St., at the departure end of Runway 16R. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the […]

The National Transportation Safety Board today released its 2015 list of “Most Wanted” transportation safety improvements, and at the top of the list cited loss of control in general aviation as among the most pressing dangers demanding urgent attention. “While airline accidents have become relatively rare in the U.S., pilots and passengers involved in general […]