Sun ‘N Fun

Piper CEO Kevin Gould said at Sun ‘n Fun on Tuesday he’s “encouraged” by the current economy, and his company will expand production by more than 75 percent this year, compared to 2009. Gould wouldn’t hazard a guess, however, how long it might take to return to 2008 levels. Since production in 2009 declined by […]

The folks at Flight Design must be feeling some impact of the down economy, but it hasn’t slowed them down much. They are here at Sun ‘n Fun, busy as ever, and with a list of new stuff to entice light sport buyers. Now they are offering floats for their fleet, as well as a […]

Piper will be delivering the first copy of its own PiperSport light sport aircraft at Sun ‘n Fun on Tuesday afternoon. The airplane has been tweaked a bit from the SportCruiser model by Czech Sport Aircraft that the company adopted. Besides the fresh paint job, Piper’s version of the LSA includes a beefed-up nosegear, a […]

Spot, a handheld satellite GPS messaging unit, is now shipping in its latest version, distribution manager Greg Wilkinson told AVweb on Monday. The new version is smaller than the original unit, weighing in at only 5.2 ounces, with added features. The Spot taps in to the company’s own global satellite network, which covers most of […]

For the next week, Lakeland, Fla., will be the center of the aviation universe, as the little airport becomes the busiest field in the world, with more than 40,000 takeoffs and landings expected during Sun ‘n Fun. Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will thunder in, and they will fly again Thursday through Sunday. Each […]

Before we close the door on Sun ‘n Fun 2009, we have one final treat for our readers – three exclusive AVweb desktop wallpapers from photographer Mariano Rosales! To use these on your desktop, just click the resolution you prefer – 1024×768 for standard monitors, 1280×800 for widescreen monitors. The image will open in a […]

“We came into this week not knowing what to expect,” said John Burton, president of Sun ‘n Fun, in a wrap session with reporters on Sunday. “And we’re all relieved — we made it through this week safely and successfully.” The week got off to a bit of a slow start, he said, partly due […]

One of these years, we’ll get out to Sun ‘n Fun’s Splash-In first – but for now, we’re content to let it be our Saturday indulgence at the show. As always, AVweb shutterbug Mariano Rosales had his camera handy … . CLICK FOR LARGER INDIVIDUAL IMAGES EACH IMAGE WILL OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW

The company that has been working for over 10 years to bring the Seawind amphibian to the certified market is back up and running, Seawind President Dick Silva said this week. “The Seawind people don’t know how to give up,” the company said in a news release. A year and a half after the only […]

A new vendor at Sun ‘n Fun this year is AirplanesDirect, an online company that is working to bring advanced Web tools like those used by Amazon and other online sales sites to the aviation marketplace. The site aims to provide buyers and sellers of aircraft with an interactive site that supports live chat, video […]