Aviation News

With 149 air traffic control towers scheduled to close in the near future, many as early as next week, it may be time for you to brush up on non-towered airport operations. To help in this process, PilotWorkshops has released a free non-towered operations video series that you can view online at your leisure. “While […]

Almost inexplicably, neither the instructor nor the experienced owner-pilot of a Zodiac 601-XL (N999NA) was wearing his seat belt on an instructional flight in the newly-acquired aircraft. Following an unexplained “malfunction” that caused a severe pitch-down, the forward-hinged canopy flew open and the student pilot was thrown from the two-seat, side-by-side cockpit. He fell 2,500 […]

The new sleek Pipistrel Panthera four-seater appears to be progressing quite well. The company announced it has successfully completed the first engine start of the 210 horsepower Lycoming IO-390 that will eventually power the airplane. The test pilots got the engine started on the second attempt and taxied the airplane around the grass runway adjacent […]

Avidyne announced on Tuesday that it supports and will participate in the industry standardization agenda for ADS-B display commonality. Avidyne has made interfacing with other companies’ equipment a priority in the design of its own avionics, and the announcement at the Aircraft Electronics Association show in Las Vegas comes as no surprise. The Capstone Data […]

On the heels of the introduction of a new line of avionics for the experimental and LSA market, Garmin has received Technical Standard Order (TSO) authorization for two new active traffic systems for the general aviation market, the GTS 825 Traffic Advisory System (TAS) and the GTS 855 Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS […]

Stratolaunch Systems this week opened the doors to a 103,000-square-foot hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, where the company’s double-fuselage carrier aircraft will be built. Adjacent to the massive hangar is an 88,000-square-foot fabrication facility, which was completed in October. Stratolaunch’s partner Scaled Composites, also based at the Mojave airport, […]

The FAA today awarded Eclipse Aerospace an amended production certificate authorizing the final assembly, test and certification of the Eclipse 550 very light jet. The original production certificate the FAA granted Eclipse last year allowed the Albuquerque, New Mexico, company to manufacture the Eclipse 550 and its parts in compliance with the FAA-approved type design, […]

Pilots are singing the praises of ForeFlight’s latest Version 5.0 update of its mobile charting app for the iPad — and after flying with the updated software, we have to agree that it’s great. The biggest change is the addition of terrain and obstacle warnings through the Hazard Advisor feature. The add-on highlights hazardous terrain […]

The airport board for Felts Field Airport (KSFF) in Spokane, Washington, is suing the FAA to block the shutdown of its control tower, one of 149 facilities due for closure as part of agency sequestration cuts. The FAA has notified the airport that it will shut down the Felts Field tower on April 7. The […]

At AEA Aspen Avionics unveiled a lineup of ADS-B solutions designed to work with the company’s popular compact and low-profile Evolution Flight Displays. The first unit, which Aspen calls “Connected Weather,” is a Wi-Fi receiver and interface to Evolution displays that gives pilots ADS-B weather products directly on their Evolution displays. The receiver connects through […]