Aviation News

Twelve months ago, Embraer’s first “clean-sheet” business jet design — the Phenom 100 — had just completed its first test flights. What a difference 12 months can make! Today, the Phenom is just one of four … count them, four … “clean-sheet” Executive Jet designs in development at Embraer. Currently, the Phenom 100 is finishing […]

Converting classic de Havilland bush aircraft to more potent turbine power is not a new prospect, but a Victoria Airport, British Columbia, Canada, company has taken the practice a step further. Viking, a subsidiary of investment firm Westerkirk Capital, made the first flight of its turbine-powered DHC-6 Twin Otter earlier this month. Powered by a […]

Aerion, the Reno, Nevada-based company formed to develop a supersonic business jet, reports it has entered the “proof of concept” design phase. Aerion has targeted 2014 for certification of its Mach-busting bizjet, which is expected to have a maximum speed of 1.6 times the speed of sound. Aerion, led by vice chairman and veteran business […]

The FAA has granted a supplemental type certificate (STC) to Sagem Avionics for installing a modern glass avionics suite in legacy Twin Commander 690 twin-engine aircraft. The configuration includes as many as four 10-inch active matrix liquid crystal displays, or as few as two. The configuration calls for primary flight display, multifunction display with moving […]

The National Business Aviation Association presented Flying‘s Mac McClellan its 2008 David W. Ewald Platinum Wing Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism at the annual convention in Orlando last October. NBAA President Ed Bolen cited McClellan’s more than 30 years as an aviation journalist, more than 10,000 hours of flying, and hundreds of articles and […]

Years in the making, the latest security initiative from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been unveiled. The Large Aircraft Security Program will regulate private operators of business jets weighing 12,500 pounds or more. Jets of this size constitute a large percentage of the private bizjet fleet. The regulations require compliance from operators of Part […]

Diamond Aircraft reports it has flown a prototype of its D-Jet with the more advanced Williams FJ33-5A engine. The new turbofan is rated at 1,900 pounds thrust, compared with 1,500 pounds for engines flown on previous versions of the D-Jet. The move was precipitated primarily by the need for more power to supply bleed air […]

At a meeting of the NBAA Safety Committee held during the annual convention earlier this month, committee members directly addressed issues related to training pilots of very light jets. With an eye toward the nonprofessional pilots expected to be flying many of these jets, recommendations centered on ensuring VLJ pilots had sufficient basic instrument flying […]

PlaneSmart, the Texas-based shared ownership company that manages a growing fleet of brand-new Cirrus SR22 turbocharged singles, is expanding its operation in an interesting way, offering managed shares in existing turbine airplanes. Under the plan, PlaneSmart works with existing owners to offer their late-model airplane-Socata TBMs, Pilatus PC12s and Piper Meridians are excellent prospects-under PlaneSmart’s […]

Undaunted by a skittish Wall Street, Gulfstream has launched its second all-new design this year-the super-midsize G250. Following on the announcement of the ultra-long-range G650 in March, the $24 million G250 is based on the G200 (née Galaxy) but features a completely new wing (with engine-driven deicing replacing the boots on the Galaxy); a new […]