Aviation News

A movement to close the Santa Monica airport in 2015 is now being fought by a new organization called Friends of Santa Monica Airport (FOSMO). Aiming to attract the general public to the airport, FOSMO organized an event at the Justice Aviation hangar last week featuring Tony Bill, director of the movie “Flyboys.” In addition […]

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. If you really can’t beat them, find a friend who can at least help you score a few body blows. That appears to be the belated strategy of Honeywell, which has enlisted Aspen Avionics of Albequerque, New Mexico, to complete the development and certification of the Bendix/King KSN […]

The Elektra One made its first flight last Saturday at Augsburg, Germany, piloted by renowned test pilot John Karkow and followed up with a second, 30-minute sortie on Wednesday. The small, composite airplane is powered by a 13.5 kW electric motor. Geiger Engineering, a German firm, supplied the motor, controller, battery management system and prop. […]

Cessna has a mockup of its upgraded Corvalis TTx on display at the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, this week. Equipped with Garmin‘s new G2000 avionics suite, the Corvalis TTx, which will be available for delivery in 2012, has received a full interior and exterior face lift. (Click here for a recent article […]

Hawker Beechcraft unveiled its latest 200-series King Air at Sun ‘n Fun this week, featuring the new King Air 250 at its static display. The long-running PT6-powered King Air franchise spans the entry-level C90GTx to the type-rating required 350i, but the 200-series with its roomy cabin, decent speed and fabulous payload has always been a […]

Piper today announced Ready, Set Fly, a sales incentive program to help buyers of new Piper Archer LX singles get from zero time to private pilot at no additional cost. The Archer LX is a 180 hp, 128-knot fixed-gear single that sells for just over $300,000 equipped with the Garmin G500 PFD/MFD. Piper will offer […]

With rain hopefully in the past, Sun ‘n Fun opened for business today to light crowds and much optimism. So with the kickoff today of the annual week-long Central Florida aviation fest, pilots everywhere are hoping that springtime brings both growth and green to the aviation industry. There are good signs aplenty, including recent reports […]

Last night at the Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Reno, Nevada, Garmin shook up the avionics world with the introduction of two new panel-mount navigators, the huge Garmin 750 and the smaller but similarly capable Garmin 650. The two navigators are touch screen devices that do everything the GNS 430 and 530 do and more […]

On Monday FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt announced a plan to reduce general aviation accidents substantially and incrementally over the next 10 years with a 10 percent improvement as the target. At Sun ‘n Fun, the FAA will host the first of nearly 100 meetings across the country designed to let pilots and the FAA work […]

The FAA last week decided to grandfather in existing airport access to residents of hangar homes so long as the airport develops a security plan for that access. The policy on so-called “through-the-fence” agreements continues to oppose new access at airports that receive federal funds, though the agency takes no stance on airports that are […]