Aviation News

As the 2011 AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hit the halfway mark, Icon Aircraft had received deposits for 65 Icon A5 airplanes during the show. Crowds filed into Icon’s dimly lit booth to watch the A5’s wings fold and unfold, and to place their $2,000 show special deposits. For each deposit accepted at the show, Icon […]

Kestrel Aircraft Company has branched out into the aircraft modifications business with a new division called Kestrel Aeroworks. Kestrel Aircraft Chairman and CEO Alan Klapmeier said the purpose of Kestrel Aeroworks is to “take existing aircraft and make them into more modern, more comfortable, more pilot-friendly aircraft.” Kestrel Aeroworks is focusing its efforts on the […]

Despite great uncertainty within the FAA, Administrator Randy Babbitt took some time to show support for the general aviation community today by stopping by EAA AirVenture. With 4,000 FAA employees still furloughed and 70,000 construction workers commissioned for aviation-related projects out of a job, Babbitt gave little indication of an expected end to the shutdown. […]

EAA Chairman Tom Poberezny abruptly retired from the organization on Tuesday in a small event that wasn’t widely announced. During his improvised remarks at that ceremony, Poberezny thanked EAA members and stressed that the real strength of the organization was in its members and that the greatest pride he took in the job was in […]

The day before the official opening of AirVenture, Rockwell Collins in a press event at its impressive new AirVenture pavillion launched a touchscreen component to its Pro Line Fusion integrated flight deck. The touchscreens are scalable, meaning they can be incorporated into a number of installations going forward. The Fusion platform is already planned to […]

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 […]