Air Shows & Events

While Slovenia-based Pipistrel has aggressively expanded into electric aircraft and has dozens in the field, it acknowledges that lack of battery capacity still makes electrics less than fully functional airplanes. One possible fix: rapid charging systems that use water cooling to potentially halve the amount necessary to top off the batteries. At AirVenture 2018, Pipistrel’s […]

2011 was a busy year for AirVenture. Aviation apps on mobile devices were gaining popularity and avionics manufacturers were taking notice. Aspen introduced its “Connected Panel,” which for the first time allowed app data like flight plans and frequencies to be transferred to Aspen avionics displays. Data was transmitted via Wi-Fi, USB or Bluetooth. Also […]

The concept of home-to-office personal flight is sweeping the nation, and it seems multirotor ideas are cropping up each week. The Silicon Valley startup VTOL BlackFly is showing particular promise, and recently demonstrated flying prototypes under the ultralight category. It arrived at aviation’s Mecca this week. Marketed by Opener Inc., the carbon-fiber BlackFly is equipped […]

For this week’s AirVenture coverage, we’ve been running daily AirVenture look backs reprising what we reported on in previous shows. When I was writing the 20-year installment—1998—I was struck by how many products and ideas were floated at AirVenture that just never potentiated. I left out a few because it was getting depressing and I […]

Opener Inc. brought version three of its BlackFly ultralight aircraft to AirVenture 2018. In this video, Alan Eustace explains the history of the aircraft and some of its features. view on YouTube

If you need an inexpensive noise cancelling headset for occasional use, one way to get that is to use a commercial non-aviation headset and fit it with a mic. A company called NFlight Technologies has the mic part wired, so to speak. In this podcast recorded at AirVenture, Courtney Martin explains how it works. Duration: […]

One of the most popular attractions at AirVenture will never be available to the public, never be a practical aircraft and really doesn’t fly very well but it always has a crowd around it. The Bally Bomber is a one-third scale B-17, faithfully reproduced over 17 years of meticulous engineering, construction and sheer imagination. The […]

A decade ago, AirVenture was abuzz with news of the PiperJet’s first flight, a new aerodiesel from upstart Austro Engines and space tourism was a thing with Burt Rutan and Sir Richard Branson promoting what eventually became Virgin Galactic. Austro showed off its four-cylinder diesel based on the same Mercedes Benz design Thielert used for […]

Trig Avionics announced plans for a new navcomm product family at AirVenture 2018. There are currently four version of the product—the TX56/TX56A and TX57/TX57A. According to the company, “the TX56 family will represent a practical retrofit for legacy units, being compatible with existing BK, Garmin and Apollo indicators.” The 10-watt TX56 comes with a VOR/LOC […]