Aviation News

The team behind Sikorsky’s X2 technology demonstrator has won the 2010 Robert J. Collier Trophy, six months after the unique twin-coaxial rotorcraft set an unofficial speed record for a helicopter of 250 knots. “Sikorsky has a long and storied history of innovation, starting with the invention of the world’s first practical helicopter and continuing today […]

Aviation interests are among the nearly 20 founding members of the “Coalition to Save Our GPS,” a group created to reverse the successful application by LightSquared LLC for a nationwide satellite broadband service that experts say could interfere with GPS receivers. Announced on March 10 in Washington, D.C., the coalition includes the Air Transport Association, […]

The FAA has issued an airworthiness directive reducing the Eclipse EA500‘s maximum ceiling to 30,000 feet after several reported instances of engine surging. This is the second time the FAA has sought to lower the Eclipse 500’s ceiling because of problems with the airplane’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A engines. A 2008 AD reduced the […]

HondaJet has indefinitely postponed a planned media tour of the company’s Greensboro, North Carolina, headquarters after the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan on March 11. In a statement last Friday to invited media, the company wrote, “As you have surely heard by now, the country of Japan has just suffered an […]

When he arrived in 1970 for his new job at the Experimental Aviation Association in its then-home of Hales Corner, Wisconsin, Jack Cox surely had no idea what changes he’d see at the organization, watching it grow from a still-homey grassroots homebuilding enthusiast group with a big summer gathering to a world-class sport and personal […]

Diamond Aircraft has announced that it is developing a new engine in conjunction with Streyr, a longtime maker of diesel engines for the marine market. While the company released few details on the engine, it is known that it will be a 280 hp in-line six-cylinder diesel — Diamond apparently prefers the terms “jet fuel […]

A letter was issued to the FAA last week by the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) and AOPA criticizing the recent unannounced but significant changes to the FAA knowledge test question database. Noticeable changes have appeared for the airline transport pilot (ATP), flight engineer (FE) and fundamentals of instruction (FOI) tests, and others may […]

Fleet Aviation claims that it is the first provider of a computerized maintenance tracking program (CMTP) specifically designed for piston aircraft. The system allows aircraft owners to keep their maintenance records online, making them accessible from anywhere, and eliminating issues such as missing logbooks or flying an aircraft that is not in compliance with legal […]

“Select Com One,” I said into the mic, and waited half a second only to see the active light on the audio panel swap over to com one, as I’d requested. It’s a cool feature, but only a small part of why the new GMA 350 has set a new standard in GA audio panels. […]

Bell Helicopter’s introduction of the Model 407GX on Sunday at Heli-Expo in Orlando marked the debut of Garmin’s G1000 avionics system in a helicopter. Called G1000H, the two-display cockpit includes many of the advanced features fixed-wing pilots have grown to appreciate, as well as a number of technologies specific to rotorcraft operation. The system’s HSVT […]