Aviation News

My friend Justin is a superb flight instructor with considerable experience in real-world flying and is charmingly full of himself. He amuses me by constantly working deals that involve flying really nice airplanes to major league games, rock concerts, ski resorts, airshows, Mardi Gras festivals, NASCAR races and weekends at somebody’s oceanfront condo. Last week, […]

Since 2009, 42 Air Force MC-12Ws have been deployed to war zones in the Middle East. The MC-12W is a modified Beech King Air 350, externally similar except for a plethora of antennas and several unsightly bulges, including a huge belly pack. Communications and surveillance equipment and stations for two technicians replace the usual executive […]

Nearly 100 people spoke on Tuesday night in front of the Santa Monica City Council for and against the city’s suggestion to continue with its plans of shutting down the historic Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Those against the airport spoke about the issue of noise and pollution, some citing a decrease in the amount of […]

In typical no-nonsense fashion, Van’s Aircraft has issued a special edition of its customer newsletter to inform RV-12 kit builders of new avionics options. Dynon and Garmin both recently announced touchscreen versions of their SkyView and G3X systems. Van’s laid out the price and delivery details as they currently know them, including a set of […]

Continental Motors plans to bring the Reims-Cessna F406 Caravan II back into production after acquiring the type certificate, inventory and manufacturing rights for the twin from Reims Aviation of France. Continental says it is partnering with ASI Innovation in France on the unpressurized, 14-passenger twin, first introduced by Reims Aviation in 1983. Once production resumes, […]

“This is absolutely a temporary measure.” That was the response from the FAA manager in charge when asked about a draft proposal that would prohibit electric airplanes from carrying passengers, flying over congested areas or operating at night — as you might have guessed, it’s all being done in the name of safety. Craig Holmes […]

The Gulfstream factory in Savanna, Georgia, continues to crank out large numbers of luxurious business jets. Only nine years after the introduction of the G450, Gulfstream has delivered the 300th unit of this $40 million airplane, which provides great speeds, long legs, a large comfortable cabin and high-tech capabilities in the cockpit as well as […]

The FAA has studied the roles of close to 500 general aviation airports that previously had not been placed in one of the four categories of the agency’s ASSET study. Completed in 2012, the study placed nearly 3,000 GA airports into one of four categories: national, regional, local; or basic. But 497 airports originally reviewed […]

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been halted by rough weather in the southern Indian Ocean, where investigators now say they are certain the Boeing 777 with 239 people on board went down. Malaysian officials said yesterday that satellite data examined by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Inmarsat had led them […]

The FAA is crafting rules that would allow electric airplanes to operate in U.S. airspace, but there is one big caveat: No passengers will be allowed on board. That’s according to a draft FAA order that spells out operating limitations for such aircraft. The proposed revision to FAA Order 8130.2 really isn’t that big of […]