Air Shows & Events

At Sun ‘n Fun 2018, the French company Alsim is showing off its latest fixed-base simulator product with visuals. In this video, AVweb’s Kate O’Connor talks to Scott Firsing about the sim’s capabilities. view on YouTube

Garmin came to Sun ‘n Fun 2018 with a new line of portable weather and traffic receivers—the GDL50 series—which replaces the first-gen GDL39 receivers. In this video from the show in Lakeland, Florida, Aviation Consumer Editor Larry Anglisano took a look at them with Jessica Koss from Garmin. view on YouTube

As Sun ‘n Fun 2018, Rotorvox showed up with atwo-place Rotax 914-powered German-made gyroplane that will be available in the U.S. as an owner-assisted amateur-built kit. The machine was on display and attracting plenty of attention, despite a rainy first day. In this video, Aviation Consumer Editor Larry Anglisano took a close look at the […]

At Sun ‘n Fun 2018, a company called Straight and Level is showing off the WingBug, a portable, battery-operated wireless ADAHRS that plays on a tablet in the cockpit. In this AVweb video, Tim Cole reports on how the gadget works. view on YouTube

Piper announced this week that its M600 turboprop and piston twins will soon be available with angle-of-attack systems from Safe Flight. The systems will be offered as options by the third quarter of 2018, Piper CEO Simon Caldecott said in a press conference at Sun ‘n Fun. The Safe Flight system, which is STC’d for […]

Jumbotrons at airshows have become commonplace but this year at Sun ‘n Fun, the airshow has both the giant screens and live streaming for those who can’t make it to the actual event. In partnership with Sun ‘n Fun, a company called LiveAirshowTV is feeding both pre-show programs and the show itself to online audiences […]

Headset manufacturer Lightspeed Aviation says it’s expanding its aviation philanthropic efforts by focusing in-kind donations of headsets to scholarship and learn-to-fly programs. At a press conference at Sun ‘n Fun 2018 in Lakeland this week, Lightspeed CEO Allan Schrader says past donations have been funneled into compassionate giving, but now the company is interested in […]

Sun ‘n Fun President John “Lites” Leenhouts announced on Monday that the Air Force has sent the Air Combat Command F-16 Viper Demonstration Team to fill the vacant performance spot left when the Thunderbirds cancelled their scheduled performance last Thursday. The cancellation was due to the loss of Thunderbird pilot Maj. Stephen Del Bagno in […]

What better way to learn how to fly than in a taildragger Cub? That’s the idea behind a new organization called Kids Fly Cubs, which is working to set up learn-to-fly promotions using Legend Cub serial number 1 loaned by American Legend, the Texas-based company that has been manufacturing updated Cubs for more than a […]

For as fun as airplanes are to fly, it’s even more interesting—at least to me—to contemplate how they’re built. And I don’t mean how a rib is riveted to a wing, but how the builders of these things organize the production of airplanes into an orderly flow. In other words, the economics of serial production. […]