Aviation News

October 14 was no ordinary day for Drew Gryder of Hampton, Georgia. It was the day of his 16th birthday. And Gryder spent this milestone birthday doing something not many, if any, teenagers had done before. He completed triple solo flights – taking to the skies in a glider, a single-engine airplane and a multi-engine […]

Cobalt Aircraft Industries has selected the SmartDeck integrated avionics suite from Canada’s Esterline CMC Avionics for its sleek Co50 five-place, all-composite single, the companies announced at AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, California. The Co50’s standard SmartDeck avionics system will include dual air-data/attitude-heading reference systems (ADAHRS), WAAS GPS and an integrated digital autopilot. Cobalt says its […]

The FAA has approved the type certificate for Sikorsky’s long-anticipated S-76D, opening the floodgates to a nearly half-billion-dollar order backlog from customers who have waited patiently through three years of program delays. The FAA signed the S-76D type certificate on Oct. 12, capping an intensive flight test program that originally called for certification of the […]

Visitors to Lockheed Martin Flight Services’ (LMFS) booth at the AOPA Aviation Summit have a chance to get a first look at the new Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) Pilot Web Portal. The new system is integrated with the company’s live briefers, allowing users to choose between an online briefing, a live briefing from an […]

Van’s Aircraft introduced an S-LSA version of the RV-12 on Thursday at AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, California. The new model will come completely built, unlike the current RV-12, which is an Experimental LSA (E-LSA). E-LSAs are essentially LSAs that comes in kit form. Van’s president and CEO Dick Van Grunsven said the new model […]

Tamarack Air Group’s president Nick Guida released some details at AOPA Summit yesterday on the company’s secret ATLAS project – aftermarket winglets for the Cirrus SR22. But these are winglets with an interesting new angle. ATLAS stands for Active Technology Load Alleviation System, and it addresses the primary obstacle in adding winglets. Though fixed winglets […]

“The Ultimate Fighter” television star Stephan Bonnar tangles with UFC (Ultimate Fighter Championship) middleweight Anderson Silva this Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But at least Bonnar won’t have to worry about one thing. His wife is expecting their child back home in Las Vegas, and the Bonnars were concerned he might miss the […]

The FAA has issued the type certificate for the new Thrush 510G agplane powered by a single 800-shp General Electric H80 turbine engine. The 510G is a derivative of the original 510P model powered by the Pratt & Whitney PT6. The new model features a number of additional improvements including a total redesign of the […]

The NTSB’s official accident report on last year’s G650 test flight crash – released Wednesday – blames the fatal accident on Gulfstream’s aggressive test flight schedule and failure to rectify pre-existing flaws in the ultra-long-range business jet’s takeoff speed. According to investigators, the accident that killed four seasoned Gulfstream employees – which occurred after the […]

The Parade of Planes will once again proceed through the streets of Palm Springs, California, from the Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) to the Palm Springs Convention Center as AOPA opens the doors to its annual Aviation Summit this week. The parade will proceed on Wednesday morning beginning at 10 a.m. and the convention runs […]