Aviation News

Cessna has delivered its 100th 162 Skycatcher to Sporty’s. The airplane is the 2012 Sporty’s Sweepstakes prize and will be delivered to a Sporty’s Pilot Shop customer at the company’s annual fly-in next May. “We are thrilled that Cessna reserved this milestone Skycatcher for Sporty’s Sweepstakes,” says Sporty’s president and CEO Michael Wolf. The two-place […]

When Lillian Bernhagen of Worthington, Ohio, heard the loud thump in her backyard during a storm this weekend, she didn’t think much about it. It wasn’t for several hours, when authorities came knocking on Bernhagen’s door, that she learned the source of the noise. There was a blimp in her backyard. The 128-foot-long airship, belonging […]

Continuing a tradition of success in South America with its single-engine utility airplanes, Cessna recently inked a deal to sell nine 208 and 208B Caravans to the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira). These airplanes bring the total number of Caravans Cessna has delivered to Brazil to 32, to complement the many other existing Caravans […]

Deborah Hersman earned a second term of the National Transportation Safety Board last week. The two-year term runs through 2013. Hersman has been a busy and active leader of the board. While her first term was thankfully free from any major U.S. airline accidents, she nonetheless oversaw investigations into a number of high-profile crashes, including […]

The SubSonex Jet, one very, very light jet powered by a Czech-built PBS TJ-100 turbine engine, took off for its first flight in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last week, bringing the prospect of a recreational jet for private pilots one step closer to reality. Renowned airshow pilot Bob Carlton, famous for his performances in a modified Salto […]

The U.S. Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was dealt a setback to its ambitions to create an aircraft capable of traveling at speeds faster than 13,000 mph after contact with its hypersonic test aircraft was lost just minutes into a proving flight on Aug. 11. It’s unclear what caused the loss of contact with the […]

The Taurus G4, a four-seat electric aircraft developed by Pipistrel, took to the air for the first time in the United States during its official maiden flight on Friday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Designed specifically to compete in NASA’s upcoming CAFE Green Flight Challenge, the aircraft had previously completed a few test hops in Europe before […]

Cessna Aircraft and King Schools have developed the Cessna Instrument Pilot Course kit — a web-based instrument pilot course similar to the Cessna Sport/Private Pilot Course already in use at Cessna Pilot Centers. The course is scheduled to launch at the end of the month and will be accessible from any computer or iPad with […]

A PT-13D Stearman used to train the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II touched down in Washington last week, carrying with it the stories and memories of men who helped shape not only the history of aviation, but the history of a nation as well. The airplane, known as the Spirit of Tuskegee, was used […]

iPad app developer ForeFlight has added coverage of Canada to its all-in-one iPad app, making it only the second electronic chart provider we know of to include international coverage in its offerings. The other, of course, is Jeppesen, which offers worldwide coverage. ForeFlight’s achievement should not be underestimated. ForeFlight co-founder Tyson Weihs told me the […]