Air Shows & Events

As Sun ‘n Fun launches its 2014 edition, John “Lites” Leenhouts, president, says he is expecting to attract big crowds and a lot of new visitors. “Pre-show ticket sales are up two-and-a-half times over a normal year,” he told AVweb on Monday, and the campgrounds are filling fast. Where are all these new visitors coming […]

After at least three journalists suffered injuries from rolling their eyes into unrecoverable gimbal lock, Sun n Fun has agreed to review press releases and announcements for specific words and phrases that are known to cause acute adverse reactions in people hearing them. Specifically, the phrase game changer and the word exciting will not be […]

In a gesture of international cooperation and solidarity, the U.S. Navy announced at Sun n Fun that its famed Blue Angels flight demo team will, on a trial basis, merge with the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds team for the remainder of the 2014 season. The new combined team will be called the Snow Angels […]

Ive attended enough shows like Sun n Fun and AirVenture to have to have inoculated myself against reading too much into trends and events that occur over the course of a week. And were but one day into Sun n Fun, with another five to go. Nonetheless, as far as new developments are concerned, I […]

The 40th annual Sun ‘n Fun air show and exhibition opened in Lakeland, Florida on Tuesday morning with a record number of exhibitors and strong ticket sales. In this brief video, Sun ‘n Fun CEO Lites Leenhouts gives AVweb viewers a preview of the show. view on YouTube

At Sun ‘n Fun, Redbird is showing its sim-based Flying Challenge. You can sign up for free and compete against thousands of other pilots in sim-based flight maneuvers. Redbird’s Jeff Van West explains how the challenge works. view on YouTube

At Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland, Florida, popular app maker ForeFlight is showing off the latest version of its flight planning and management app, ForeFlight 6. The upgrade provides split-screen capability for the Stratus portable ADS-B/EFIS, new terrain plotting features and improved flight plan filing. view on YouTube

Garmin has redesigned its G3X glass cockpit for LSA and experimental aircraft. It has a touchscreen feature set and supports on-screen display and command for the Garmin VIRB action cam, plus it controls the GMC305 flight control/autopilot system. Garmin’s Jessica Koss gave AVweb an overview of the system at Sun ‘n Fun 2014 in Lakeland, […]

Flight Design, which has sold more LSAs than anyone, has been working for a few years to build the C4, its first four-place certified design, and this week at Sun ‘n Fun they released details about the avionics package they created in concert with Garmin. “This panel was fully customized for this airplane,” said CEO […]

Compared to aviation market trends, glaciers move at the speed of light, so I wasnt too surprised earlier this month that the Aircraft Electronics Association show in Nashville didnt reveal the next big thing. Still, there are whispers in the wind, I suppose. Maybe whats more interesting was what we didnt see, making me wonder […]