Business Aviation

Chinese officials plan to invest $11.9 billion by the end of this year to expand aviation infrastructure, according to a recent report from Xinhua, the country’s official press agency. Most of the investment will go to airport construction, with 11 key new projects planned and 52 upgrades to existing facilities. “The general aviation sector, especially […]

New technologies that could detect and perhaps also take control of drones that fly too close to airports are now being studied by the FAA, the agency said in a news release this week. The FAA signed agreements with three private companies — Gryphon Sensors, Liteye Systems and Sensofusion — that have developed technology and […]

Two companies, Tailwind and Cape Air, are working to secure FAA approval to fly seaplanes out of Boston Harbor, providing service to Manhattan, the Boston Globe reported today. Both companies plan to fly nine-passenger Cessna Caravans on floats. Both also promise 90-minute service, direct from downtown to downtown, substantially beating the current options — train, […]

Even at a price north of a million dollars, Diamond’s new DA62 twin is finding strong demand in a new aircraft market most describe as tepid. Diamond CEO Christian Dries told AVweb this week at Aero that production will rise to more than one airplane per week and that he believes a volume of 60 […]

At Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany, this week, GAMA president Pete Bunce said the association’s research has revealed there are many more GA aircraft in Europe than were originally though. In this exclusive podcast with AVweb, he said knowing the accurate count has safety implications. Duration: 7:55 File Size: 6.5 MB download here

As the Aero shows opens today in Friedrichshafen, Germany, organizers are looking for a smaller show—down about 40 exhibitors—but a busy one. AVweb’s preview of the show schedule Tuesday revealed a full day of conferences and announcements, including new product information from Continental Motors, Daher, Jeppesen and Siemens. Aero’s Roland Bosch told AVweb Tuesday that […]

A 1997 Citation X owned by Donald Trump has been flying with an expired FAA registration since Jan. 31, according to a story in today’s New York Times. Flying with a lapsed registration — which costs $5 for three years — could be a problem in the case of an accident, and also can subject […]

Environmental groups have filed suit (PDF) against the EPA to try and force the agency to set emissions limits for all aircraft. The suit was filed by Earthjustice (on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity) and Friends of the Earth on Thursday, saying the EPA has “delayed unreasonably” coming up with rules for aircraft […]

As the FAA slowly plies through the process of approving an unleaded replacement for 100LL, Swift says it believes its 100-octane unleaded fuel will have a comparable cost to current avgas. Swift was one of two fuels to emerge from the first phase of the FAA’s Piston Alternative Fuel Initiative testing late last month. A […]

I think if you explained to someone outside of aviation that, by the time we’re all done, it will have taken 10 years to develop a new, unleaded, high-octane aviation gasoline, they’d believe you to be making it all up. And that doesn’t count 30 years of half-serious research on the topic hardly worthy of […]