Aviation News

Ever wonder what happened to the ‘500’ series of Garmin portables? When the big dog on the GA avionics porch released its 695/696 units last year, some questioned why the leapfrog from the enormously successful 496. Now we know. Garmin announced its latest, the Aera (pronounced ‘air-uh’) series of portables at this week’s AOPA Summit […]

At about 8:25 A.M. on Sept. 3, 2007, Steve Fossett took off from a friend’s ranch, about 60 miles southeast of Reno, Nevada, in a borrowed 1980 Bellanca Super Decathlon. A few minutes later, about nine miles south of the airstrip, an employee of the ranch who knew the airplane well saw the Decathlon fly […]

NBAA has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to coordinate Light Business Aviation (LBA) conferences. There will be LBA conferences at each of the associations’ meetings every year starting in 2010. NBAA had planned a dedicated LBA conference of its own this year, but cancelled plans in light of […]

Greenville, South Carolina-based SATSair has quit flying. The company used a fleet of Cirrus SR22s in what had been an apparently successful air-taxi model. But last week, the company cited “a combination of circumstances” and suspended flights, including those that had been previously booked. Customers were told they would be notified if SATSair were to […]

Long before Eclipse, Cirrus or even Lear Jet, the Morane-Saulnier MS-760 brought jet performance to personal aircraft. In production from 1959 to 1966, the four-place twinjet was powered by a pair of Marbore straight-pipe turbojets and sold reasonably well for its time. Now, a new company plans to revive the design, known as the Paris […]

While NBAA exhibitors were downsizing and fewer attendees were traveling to the show, the spirit of giving was not sacrificed on the altar of frugality. The Corporate Angel Network (CAN) combined with NBAA this year to hold a Charity Benefit, including a combination live and online auction. Auction items donated by NBAA members included a […]

Attendance at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando last week was down by 25 percent compared with last year. The 23,000 figure is the second lowest since 1994, exceeded only by the hastily rescheduled show held in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, when fewer than 12,000 registered. On the plus side, most […]

Bill Garvey, former Flying editor and current editor-in-chief of Business & Commercial Aviation magazine, received this year’s Dave Ewald Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award for journalism from the NBAA. His op-ed piece in the Jan. 31 issue of The New York Times defended business aviation. This year’s NBAA Gold Wing Award for journalism went to Robert […]

When Airbus decided to configure its A320 with sidesticks, one of the benefits was that the crew would have ample workroom without a control column in front of them. Northwest captain Timothy Cheney and first officer Richard Cole might now be wishing Airbus had stuck with the old school. According to the latest reports from […]

Garmin announced on Monday that it has two launch aircraft for its G3000 avionics suite. On Tuesday, Honda Aircraft and Piper both confirmed their developmental jets are the aircraft Garmin was referring to. Honda’s HondaJet has completed talks with the FAA on a variety of structural certification standards and is preparing for final assembly of […]