Aviation News

Daher-Socata has unveiled the 2013 version of the TBM 850 Elite featuring an all-glass avionics panel. The L-3 Avionics Trilogy ESI-2000 solid-state electronic standby instrument will now provide backup flight information for the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics system that graces the TBM 850 cockpit. The ESI-2000’s 3.7-inch liquid crystal display replaces the three traditional round-gauge […]

The 77-year-old, 8,000 hour pilot-owner of a Cessna 182, accompanied by his wife, flew from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska, on a July afternoon. The couple was in the process of moving to Hoonah, about 31 nm west-southwest of Juneau; the ostensible purpose of this trip was to position the 182 there before the start of […]

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) announced this morning that association president and CEO Craig Fuller will be leaving the organization. The release quoted AOPA Chairman of the Board William C. Trimble III as saying that the organization would immediately start the search for a replacement. “During his more than four years as president […]

Piper has selected the Garmin G1000 integrated flight deck for its Seneca V piston twin as an upgrade over the previously available G600 suite. The G1000 system in the Seneca V includes three 10.4-inch displays integrating all primary flight information, navigation data, communications, terrain awareness, traffic, weather and engine data. The G1000 for the Seneca […]

Nineteen tourists were killed Monday in a hot air balloon crash near Luxor, Egypt, making it the deadliest balloon crash worldwide in decades. Details of the episode are still emerging, but the Washington Post reported that a landing cable got caught around a helium tube, which caused a fire and subsequent gas explosion. The balloon […]

Apparently helicopters are the getaway vehicle of choice for high-profile inmates in Greek prisons. But this time the attempt failed. Last Sunday, convicted murderer and racketeer Panagiotis Vlastos was waiting in the courtyard of Trikala Prison, about 205 miles northeast of Athens, when the chartered helicopter swooped down. It is not yet clear if the […]

Canadian TV director John Driftmier was killed on Sunday in an airplane crash while filming the second season of “Dangerous Flights,” a reality program for the Discovery Channel that follows fliers as they “risk their lives in the high-danger, high-stress business of aircraft delivery.” While little is known about the crash, it reportedly took place […]

A half-inch-long crack in a turbine engine blade prompted the Pentagon to ground the fleet of 51 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters on Friday, the latest black eye for the troubled and oft-delayed military jet program. Engineers at Pratt & Whitney planned to conduct a detailed examination of the turbine blade on the F135 engine as […]

On Monday evening Diamond Aircraft Industries Canada President and CEO Peter Maurer made the startling announcement that the company was laying off “the majority” of its Canadian workforce. The move, it said, was temporary pending what it called “restructuring.” In a phone call late Tuesday, Maurer said that the production of piston singles would continue, […]

There’s now an easier way to browse NTSB reports. Aircraft Incidents is a new online source for aviation accidents. The website contains the entire database of NTSB reports and allows readers to narrow their searches by various criteria, including categories such as “Top 10 Airlines” and “Top 10 Aircraft.” It also breaks down the data […]