Aviation News

Few were surprised to learn the results of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) report for the first quarter of this year. “This is an extremely difficult time for our industry,” said GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce. Shipments, overall, were down 41.1 percent compared with last year’s Q1 numbers. Billings dropped 18.2 percent to […]

Even if he hadn’t obliterated a round-the-world light-jet record by some 21 hours, you’d still have to think 26-year-old Citation CJ2 owner-pilot Jared Isaacman is a remarkable individual. The New Jersey entrepreneur started his first business, a bank-card processing company, in his parents’ basement when he was 16. United Bank Card has grown to become […]

Announced last year at the National Business Aviation Association convention, plans for Daher-Socata’s new aircraft project have advanced in the form of an expected commitment to invest some $330 million. The announcement of the investment is expected at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva later this month. The company has not […]

In response to lagging sales, Cessna will move production of its Corvalis line of single-engine aircraft (formerly Columbia) to its Independence, Kansas, factory and close the original production facility in Bend, Oregon. Poor economic conditions are also blamed for Cessna suspending development of its Columbus business jet, the largest jet Cessna has ever designed. Company […]

In 2007, two airplanes crashed a month apart, in somewhat similar circumstances. Both were light sport aircraft of European manufacture; both had two aboard; both stalled and spun from low altitude. In its findings of probable cause in the two accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board raised issues that should be of concern to light […]

New Jersey equestrians stepped up to support the Northeast division of charity flight specialist Angel Flight last weekend. Angel Flight coordinates rides with volunteer pilots and aircraft owners for patients needing to travel for treatment, and/or their family members. At the fundraiser, held at Duncraven Stables outside Trenton, riders competed in jumping events and all […]

Since last September, general aviation manufacturers in the United States have reduced their employment rolls by almost 12,400. Another 7,000 jobs have been eliminated elsewhere in the world. The numbers do not include 850 workers left without a paycheck when Eclipse declared bankruptcy. Despite the beginnings of economic good news, the culling of jobs in […]

Last Friday, a Cessna 180 on a flight from Maine to North Carolina strayed into restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., and was escorted to an unscheduled landing at a Maryland airport. The pilot’s GPS had apparently malfunctioned, and he flew into the restricted airspace by mistake. Security officials placed the White House under temporary lockdown, […]

The general aviation world was anxiously watching this year’s kickoff event. The annual Sun ‘n Fun fly-in opened last week and the results are mostly good for airplane aficionados. With the economy fighting its way back to its feet, and general aviation in the crosshairs of public opinion, we were holding our collective breath. Though […]

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. But a half-hour aerial photo shoot involving one of the presidential Boeing 747s turned out to be anything but. Aircraft are given the ATC call sign ‘Air Force One’ when the President is on board, but the specially equipped 747, itself, is commonly referred […]