Aviation News

Mooney Aircraft is again exhibiting at AirVenture, marking the return of a company that many have left for dead. Not so, says the company’s CFO Barry Hodkin. He says Mooney is in fact in discussions with potential funding partners to get the company producing airplanes again. “Nobody is quitting on the Mooney brand,” says Hodkin. […]

Kenny Dichter, the former vice chairman of NetJets and creator of the jet card concept as founder of Marquis Jet, is pouring his creative energy into a new endeavor anchored around the workhorse Beechcraft King Air 350i. Dichter’s new company, Wheels Up, has placed an order for 105 of the versatile twin turboprops and full […]

In a series of Oshkosh firsts, Terrafugia’s Transition flying car took to the skies to open AirVenture yesterday afternoon, followed by flights by an actual carmaker — Honda — which flew not one but two HondaJets in formation over Wittman Airport. But those performances were mere warm-up acts for the main attraction at Oshkosh this […]

Not all of the display aircraft at EAA AirVenture are pristine examples. A Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighter used to train World War II Naval aviators is on display, its remains lashed to the back of a flatbed truck. The barnacle-encrusted single-seat fighter crashed on takeoff from a training aircraft carrier on Lake Michigan in December […]

Rich Gibson’s airshow work is impossible to ignore. His company, Rich’s Incredible Pyro, is responsible for the gigantic walls of flame that accompany simulated aerial attacks during EAA AirVenture and other airshows around the world. This year will be Rich’s swan song at Oshkosh, but he has left indelible memories for anyone who’s seen his […]

Cirrus Aircraft’s recently appointed president and COO Pat Waddick briefed the media in a press conference at AirVenture about the progress of the much anticipated and drawn out SF50 Vision Jet program. More than 170 people are hard at work on the Cirrus Jet program in Duluth, Minnesota, and, after extensive testing of what Cirrus […]

Flight Design’s new C4 four-seater will come equipped with a Garmin glass panel, Flight Design announced at Oshkosh this week. While complete details of the avionics deal have not been announced, Garmin and Flight Design hinted that features such as angle of attack, dual air data heading reference system and synthetic vision will all be […]

At a press briefing on Sunday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Sonex revealed details regarding the SubSonex personal jet, including initial pricing. Sonex is accepting $10,000 refundable deposits for production slots and while the company did not announce what the final price for the single-engine jet kit will be, the company said that the first ten deposit […]

EAA Chairman and de facto president Jack Pelton addressed reporters at a regularly scheduled press conference and discussed a variety of topics. Included was the FAA’s charging for services for air traffic controllers, which EAA is fighting in court and on Capitol Hill. Pelton explained that for the week of AirVenture, the FAA essentially owns […]

At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Redbird Flight Simulations announced that it is going to start rehabbing existing Cessna Skyhawks (early to mid-1980s models) for use in its training programs at its Skyport FBO in San Marcos, Texas, as well as selling them to other flight schools. Most noteworthy of the upgrades will be the Centurion 2.0 […]