Aviation News

More than 1,000 general aviation buyers braved triple-digit temperatures to visit Centennial Airport in Denver last week for the third in a series of Parade of Piston events. Fifteen aircraft manufacturers were represented and up to a dozen aircraft were sold on site. Sponsored in part by Flying and AMPT Associates, a leading motor sports […]

Anywhere Map’s handheld GPS navigators, which are loaded with features, have long given pilots a lot of value in easy to use portable navigators. The company’s latest, the Anywhere Map Travel Companion (ATC), might be the best yet. Offering advanced moving maps and a host of available safety utilities, the ATC might well be a […]

Announced at this week’s Farnborough Airshow, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PurePower family of turbofans attempts to tap geared engine technology to achieve lower fuel burns and higher efficiency. The PurePower PW1000G and PW800 are earmarked for regional airliners and business jets, including Bombardier’s developmental CSeries 100- to 149-seat regional jets, also announced at Farnborough […]

Lycoming Engines announced this week it has launched development of its TIO-360-EXP “Thunderbolt” engine-with the ultimate goal of operating the engine on unleaded fuel. But the company carefully notes a long pathway of research and approvals necessary before that goal can be reached. The turbonormalized, intercooled engine is nominally rated at 180 horsepower up to […]

Long known internally-and increasingly externally-simply as ‘The Jet,’ Cirrus’ single-engine turbofan now has an official name. The Cirrus Vision SJ50 harks back to one of Alan and Dale Klapmeiers’ first products, the mid-engine, rear prop-driven ST50. First conceived as a kitplane, the ST50 never went to production, but formed a backdrop for Cirrus’s highly successful […]

The European Aviation Safety Agency has certified the Chelton Flight Systems synthetic vision avionics system in Bell 407, 206A and B JetRanger, and 206L LongRanger single-engine helicopters. The certification covers Chelton’s latest software version 6.0B level A, and includes graphic depictions of terrain, obstacles and WSI-downloaded weather. The Chelton system offers highway in the sky […]

Hawker Beechcraft announced the long expected II version of its light jet Premier at EBACE in Geneva in May. The Premier II will have more powerful engines for better takeoff and climb performance, and elliptical winglets that will help the airplane cruise higher and farther. The airplane moves into the FAA’s Commuter Category of certification […]

Learjet has selected the Collins Pro Line Fusion system of advanced integrated avionics for its new all-composite Model 85 being designed and built initially in conjunction with Grob. The company also announced that it has selected Pratt & Whitney PW307B engines rated at 6,100 pounds thrust each to power the large midsize jet. After initial […]

In January of last year, the nose baggage door of a Cessna CE-525 CitationJet opened during takeoff from Van Nuys Airport. Moments later, the jet crashed into an empty lot in a residential neighborhood just north of the airport, killing both pilots. As you might expect at a busy airport, many people who knew something […]

Pratt & Whitney is marking the 45th anniversary of the PT6 engine, the most famous turboprop engine in the world. The first engine powered the Beech King Air 90, and versions of the PT6 continue to power dozens of models from the King Air 90GT to highly successful singles such as the TBM 850 and […]