Aviation News

Anyone on the decision-making fence about springing for a new aircraft needs to act fast. The stimulus 50-percent bonus depreciation law covers new aircraft delivered by year end, and the tax savings can be huge. Essentially, buyers are able to accelerate half the overall depreciation of the aircraft into one year, allowing a significant tax […]

The Citation Mustang High Sierra edition incorporates several desirable upgrades along with some limited edition aesthetic touches to create a Mustang that will stand apart. The exterior paint is a striking two-tone scheme with mountain silhouettes on the nacelles and a special edition logo near the entry door. Inside, Cessna designers have given Mustang customers […]

Southern California’s Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) now has a fitting tribute to its history as a center of airline manufacturing with the installation of a full size DC-3 monument. It’s hard to imagine tony Santa Monica being an aviation manufacturing hotbed, but not too many decades ago it was home to the production line of […]

According to an eyewitness whose attention was caught by the loud gunning of its engine as it approached the airport, the little two-seater’s wings both vibrated visibly before the left wing folded back against the fuselage. The airplane pitched downward and began to spin; the right wing then bent upward, and it too folded back […]

Responding to the challenges of the current economy for general aviation, Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) this week delivered 350 pink slips to salaried staff. In a letter to employees, CEO Bill Boisture also outlined the schedule and details of 800 job losses for union-represented hourly workers that had been announced in September. In the Oct. […]

In the years preceding the economic collapse of 2008, the NBAA convention was punctuated by announcements of huge orders for business jets. That custom came to a screeching halt, but this year NetJets burned some rubber with the announcement it plans to buy up to 125 Embraer Phenom 300s. The $1 billion deal includes 50 […]

Kurt Robinson, president of Robinson Helicopter and son of founder Frank Robinson, said the FAA was well represented Monday among the 300 attending certification ceremonies for the company’s new turbine-powered R66. He said, “A lot of the FAA guys were saying, ‘We used to do this all the time, but now, certifying a new aircraft […]

Though known for its helicopters, Sikorsky has a legacy that includes some iconic fixed-wing aircraft dating back to the 1930s. Now, the company is back in the fixed-wing business. During the NBAA Convention in Atlanta last week, Sikorsky signed an agreement in principle to invest in Eclipse Aerospace, the company that has acquired the rights […]

Aerion, the company exploring design and production of a supersonic business jet, announced at the NBAA convention that a series of flight tests in collaboration with NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center have marked the latest milestone in the company’s preliminary engineering activities for its first supersonic business jet. A total of five data test flights […]

Ed Tripp had a career that spanned half a century of aviation publications, including Car & Driver, Air Progress, AOPA Pilot, Business & Commercial Aviation and Flying. He died of cancer Oct. 16 at his home in Cincinnati. Tripp was publisher of Flying‘s landmark 50th Anniversary issue in 1977. Born in Boston, he served in […]