Aviation News

Just in time for this week’s AOPA Expo in San Jose, Garmin has announced it will introduce its first all-new portable GPS product since the GPSMap 496. The new GPSMap 696’s most prominent feature is its size. With a 7-inch screen (measured diagonally) it can display a full-size approach plate. The unit is qualified as […]

Following the attempted ouster of two popular board members, a contingent of the National Association of Flight Instructors has organized to challenge the group’s board of directors. Citing “recent developments at the board level,” a group known as Take Back Our NAFI (TBO NAFI) issued a press release calling for “swift and sweeping changes” in […]

DayJet, the failed air taxi operator based in Florida, had taken delivery of 28 Eclipse 500 very light jets (VLJs) before ceasing operations last month. The start-up operator had ordered 1,400 of the VLJs. The 28 are now up for sale, with their Albuquerque, New Mexico, manufacturer in the role of broker. Though there has […]

When the economy slips, it sometimes pays off to address customers’ needs to downsize. That could be part of the thinking behind JetDirect Aviation (formerly TAG) moving more aggressively into the turboprop and light-jet charter segment. Last year, JetDirect acquired California-based Sunset Aviation, which focuses on the lighter side of corporate charter. Sunset operates a […]

Speaking at a National Journal policy breakfast last week, representatives from both competing presidential campaigns were not very illuminating when it came to the subject of where their bosses stood on general aviation issues. Senator Barack Obama’s transportation advisor noted the need for greater investment in aviation infrastructure, including “getting an ATC system that works.” […]

Last Tuesday, at the Dassault Falcon Jet hangar at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, aviation industry representatives met with New Jersey politicians and representatives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to celebrate the fruits of a unique effort. Two years ago, a group of Teterboro Airport users, FBOs and local residents’ […]

Cirrus Design has reacted to slumping sales by lowering its production rate to three aircraft per day from four per day. The Duluth, Minnesota, manufacturer also expects to cut back to a three-day week for at least some of the remainder of this year, though Cirrus would re-up the per-day rate to four under that […]

As of February 1 next year, you might need a 406-megaHertz emergency locator transmitter (ELT) to operate in Canadian airspace, regardless of where your aircraft is registered. As of that date, search and rescue satellites will cease to scan for older 121.5-megaHertz ELTs. The FAA has left it up to pilots whether or not they […]

I went to a Catholic grammar school (where they actually taught grammar, by the way — a dying art). The Sisters of the Holy Cross, always eager to tamp down heresy among the 10-year-olds, dealt with the conundrum of evil and God’s will (if God is all-good, why does He allow bad things to happen?) […]

An FAA Aviation Rulemaking Committee made 36 follow-on recommendations for implementation of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), leading the FAA to reopen the public comment period on the ADS-B proposal until November 3. Among the recommendations are moves to ease the equipment transition for aircraft operators from transponders and ELTs; and to improve weather and traffic-avoidance […]