Aviation News

Blackhawk Modifications has gotten the FAA seal of approval for its Pratt & Whitney Canada engine upgrade program. The STC swaps out the 675-hp Pratt & Whitney PT-6A-114A for the 850-shp PT6A-42A, an increase of 26 percent. The mod gives operators an increase in takeoff work of 4 percent, 20 percent shorter takeoff performance, and […]

Flight Design came to AirVenture with a mockup of its four-seat C4 and said that it was close to making selections for the suppliers for the engine and the avionics. An all-carbon-fiber Part 23 high-cantilever-wing airplane designed to be a kind of amalgam of Skyhawk, Skylane and Cardinal, the C4 has projected specs — if […]

There were numerous questions on the minds of many in the aviation universe about how this year’s AirVenture would play out. So far, the aviation gods are smiling upon the show. Despite widespread FAA furloughs, the threat of federal loan defaults and the specter of economic havoc, the EAA’s annual aviation extravaganza is off to […]

The official Air France 447 accident report will be released this Friday, French officials announced. According to the BEA, the national aviation investigative unit of France, “This report will present the exact circumstances of the accident with an initial analysis and some new findings based on the data recovered from the flight recorders.” The official […]

Nearly 4,000 FAA employees were furloughed Saturday after Congress adjourned Friday without passing an FAA reauthorization bill, prompting a partial FAA shutdown and triggering a ripple effect throughout the country, including at this week’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The FAA has issued dozens of stop-work orders for multi-million dollar airport improvement projects, and approximately […]

Daher-Socata, the French maker of the TBM 850 turboprop single, plans to decide by the end of the year whether to add the Grob SPn composite business jet to its product portfolio or instead start from scratch with a bizjet design of its own. Launched in 2005, the Grob SPn was well along in certification […]

After more than 20 years as a professional airshow pilot, Greg Poe died unexpectedly from an apparent heart attack, according to his official website www.gregpoe.com. Poe was 57 years old and was to fly in more than 20 shows scheduled this year – one in El Salvador and the remainder around the United States. Poe […]

Wouldn’t it be great if you could create a flight plan using your iPad and then automatically load it into the avionics in your airplane? Aspen Avionics has created a Wi-Fi-based technology called Connected Panel that will let pilots do just that — and a whole lot more. The first software app designed for the […]

Avidyne on Monday launched a family of panel-mount avionics that is aimed squarely at owners of Garmin equipment, and in particular the popular GNS 530 GPS navcom. The flagship of the Avidyne product line is the touchscreen IFD540 WAAS navigator, a “plug-and-play” replacement for the Garmin GNS 530 that has a claimed installation time of […]

(July 2011) In November 2007, the builder-pilot of a Van’s RV-10 was killed when his engine apparently lost power at low altitude. He had relocated the batteries the night before to move the CG forward, and was checking the airplane before departing on a planned trip with his family later that day. The accident raised […]