Aviation News

Can a light sport amphibian gain a beachhead in the new-airplane market? With Vern Raburn on its board of advisors and a veteran team of engineers from Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites, California-based Icon Aircraft is approaching the market with gusto. Founded in 2005 by former F-16 pilot Kirk Hawkins, Icon’s inaugural product is a slick, […]

Addision Pemberton made the first flight in a Boeing 40 biplane in February after an eight-year restoration of the oldest flying Boeing in existence. Boeing designed the airplane in 1925 to serve early mail routes, and the fuselage was later stretched to add two and then four passenger seats in the cabin. Pemberton’s Boeing 40 […]

As an effort to increase the number of active flight instructors, Avemco will be offering insurance coverage for CFIs not affiliated with flight school or FBO training programs who wish to conduct flight training in their own aircraft. According to Jim Lauerman, Avemco president, the additional endorsement will allow aircraft owners who are also CFIs […]

Cessna’s recently announced, large-cabin Columbus bizjet will be built in Kansas. The company made the announcement shortly after state legislators approved a bill pledging $33 million of funding for the new factory. Cessna says that the Columbus project will provide more than 1,000 direct jobs as part of its $780 million investment, the biggest project […]

There are two kinds of people: those who find spins exhilarating, and those who find them terrifying. I found them exhilarating when my instructor, Betty Faux, first demonstrated them to me in a Cessna 150 during the course of my post-private-ticket training. I promptly invited friends to share this great thrill. We would fly out […]

Eclipse mixed two slices of good news in with a heaping portion of bad news earlier this month. The company announced it was increasing the price of its Eclipse 500 twinjet by $550,000 to $2.15 million-a jump of 35 percent-effective immediately, and based on June 2008 economics. The good news came in the form of […]

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) announced it is releasing the first of a series of web-based air crew briefing sites designed to familiarize visiting pilots with airports’ unique features. The inaugural airport for Safety 1st is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey. The result […]

Current position-holders for the Eclipse 500s will be allowed to step to the front of the line to place deposits on the $1.35 million model 400 single. They will also be afforded a discount of $125,000 off the price. The Eclipse 400 is the four-seat, production version of the V-tail Eclipse Concept Jet that first […]

When each “unit” you’re selling is priced at $80 million, and there is a pent up worldwide demand, you can rack up impressive numbers in a hurry. Aerion, which is committed to developing and producing a supersonic business jet, left last month’s EBACE show in Switzerland having sold the equivalent of a dozen-plus aircraft-a tally […]

Eclipse Vice President of Marketing and Sales Mike McConnell clarified some details on this month’s price increase on the Eclipse 500 twinjet. Previously priced at $1.595 million in June 2006 dollars (adjusted to $1.7 million in 2008 dollars) the Eclipse 500 is now priced at $2.15 million-a price increase of $450,000 when adjusted for inflation, […]