Aviation News

Nextant Aerospace completed the first test flight of the G90XT business turboprop, a remanufactured version of the venerable King Air C90A with new GE H75-100 turbine engines, Garmin G1000 avionics and fresh paint and interior. “The increased power was very noticeable during the takeoff run,” said Nextant chief test pilot Nathan Marker. “I was also […]

An analysis of radar data from the AirAsia Airbus A320 that crashed near Indonesia late last month points to a steep climb and aerodynamic stall that caused the jetliner to go out of control and plummet into the Java Sea, a government official said. Indonesian Transportation Secretary Ignasius Jonan said at a government hearing that […]

Tragedy struck the otherwise successful and upbeat U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida, last week when two people were killed in the crash of an Aero Adventure amphibious LSA near the main runway at Sebring Regional Airport. Officials identified the victims as pilot Dennis Day of Groveland, Florida, and Jason Sponks of Orlando. The […]

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 […]