Business Aviation

It was more than 50 years ago that Boeing used the first vortex generators-carefully located metal tabs angled slightly relative to the airflow-on portions of the upper surface of the wing of the original 707. (I also received a report from reader George McClellan, who worked on the experimental flightline at Boeing in Wichita, that […]

Boeing is inspectingthe carbon fiber composite wings of 787 Dreamliners for potential hairline cracks that are due to a change in the way the wings are manufactured. The inspections of 42 planes started a few weeks ago after the airplane maker was notified of the problem by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which makes the wings in […]

With more than 70 employees now employed at its Kerrville, Texas, facility, and about to restart the assembly line to produce the first M20TN Acclaim Type S, Mooney has announcedthat its management leadership team is in place. CEO is Dr. Jerry Chen, who has extensive experience in the aviation and aerospace industry and holds two […]

Before Civil Air Patrol’s Command Council convenes in Washington, D.C., this week for its annual winter meeting, it will gather on Capitol Hill for Legislative Day on Feb. 27 to brief Congress on the U.S. Air Force auxiliary’s primary missions of emergency services, aerospace education and cadet programs. Legislative Day will also feature induction of […]

The FAA today published a notice in theFederal Register of the availability of two new and eight revised consensus standards for certification of certain light sport aircraft and requested comments on the standards. Under light sport rules, ASTM International (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) Committee F37 on Light Sport Aircraft […]

During its third test flight, Cessna Aircrafts Citation Latitude prototype successfully achieved its full performance envelope, the company said. It reached a maximum speed of 506 mph and an altitude of 45,000 feet with a gross takeoff weight of 29,000 pounds. The first flight took place last week. Michael Thacker, Cessna senior vice president of […]

The bright spot in the bleak aviation market of the past five years has been helicopters and there’s no sign of their continued strong performance abating. In its annual five-year forecast for the industry announced at the opening of the Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo convention in Anaheim, Calif., Honeywell said that while the market will […]

More than 17,000 people are expected to attend the Abu Dhabi Air Expo in the United Arab Emirates through Thursday. The show began Tuesday and is in its third year. A total of 170 exhibitors are at the event, which bills itself as the largest display of general aviation aircraft in the Middle East. “The […]

Analysts keep finding good news about the business jet market and the latest is UBS’s David Strauss, who says there’s a sustained uptick in business jet activity in the U.S. The Wichita Eagle says Strauss figures the use of newer business jets is almost back to “pre-crisis levels” and that use of older airplanes is […]

Cirrus Aircraft delivered 276 new aircraft in 2013, nearly a 10 percent increase over 2012, marking its best aircraft shipment performance since 2008. According to its announcement, Cirrus Aircrafts annual market share has grown to 37 percent and the SR22/22T model remains the best-selling four- or five-seat airplane for the 11th year in a row. […]