Aviation News

In its latest annual industry forecast, the FAA predicts the number of general aviation piston airplanes will decline at a rate of 0.1 percent over the next 20 years, even as airline and business jet travel greatly expand. The forecast’s findings, presented at the 37th Annual FAA Forecast Conference in Washington, D.C., last week, project […]

Beginning on Oct. 1, the FAA will switch to its online Form 8500-8 medical application, otherwise known as “FAA MedXpress,” in a move aimed at eliminating the cumbersome paper medical forms. The FAA introduced the online form in 2007, but didn’t make its use mandatory. In explaining the change, the agency said the MedXpress system […]

If one-stop shopping for your database updates sounds too good to be true, well, you’re still mostly right. But for some owners, the time has arrived, thanks to a program from Jeppesen and Garmin called PilotPak that lets select owners pay for one database subscription and install it on all of their panel-mount units. PilotPak […]

With Sun ‘n Fun just a few weeks away, Sporty’s Pilot Shop has released its official 2012 app for Florida’s biggest air show. In addition to the basics, like show hours and ticket information, the app hosts a variety of other features, ranging from fly-in information for pilots to show maps to custom favorite lists […]

The Red Bull capsule created to carry Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner to an altitude of 120,000 feet for his upcoming freefall mission is ready, developers behind the project said Tuesday. The 2,900-pound sealed capsule has been under development at Sage Cheshire Aerospace in Lancaster, California, for the past five years and comes complete with a […]

BRP Rotax has launched a new engine, the Rotax 912 iS, as an evolution of its popular four-cylinder, four-stroke line for the light-sport market. Designed to burn less gas without sacrificing performance or reliability, the engine is claimed to be as much as 70 percent more fuel-efficient than competing engines. The launch customer for the […]

A Buffalo Airways Lockheed Electra featured in the reality TV series “Ice Pilots NWT” made a successful belly landing at Yellowknife Airport in Canada on Monday after its right landing gear became stuck in the up position. The 50-year-old Electra skidded to a halt off the runway after its pilots spent more than an hour […]

The FAA is asking the public to weigh in on the criteria for six future unmanned aircraft test sites in the United States in anticipation of the larger integration of drones slated to take place in North American airspace over the next few years. The comment period, which officially opens on Friday, will remain active […]

Russian company Enterprises LLC has acquired Bend, Oregon-based Epic Aircraft. The acquisition has the potential to push FAA certification forward for Epic’s LT – a six-seat single-engine turboprop that has been sold as a kit. An Epic spokeswoman said the company expects certification in three years. Enterprises LLC, a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company, […]

Just a few months after Gulfstream’s flagship G650 snagged provisional certification from the FAA, the company’s newest airplane, the Gulfstream G280, has accomplished a similar feat. All that is left to finish on the Gulfstream G280 for the full FAA nod is an update to the super-midsize jet’s avionics system, the company said late last […]