Business Aviation

Nextant, the Cleveland, Ohio, company that takes in older aircraft and remanufactures them with fresh upgrades, has announced a new “incremental” upgrade program for the Beech 400A/Hawker 400XP twinjet aircraft. The full conversion to an XTi costs about $3 million, the company says, a cost that “not everyone is able to justify.” Now Nextant is […]

NASA said on Monday it has achieved “a significant milestone” in its effort to make supersonic passenger jet travel over land a real possibility by completing the preliminary design review of its Quiet Supersonic Transport, or QueSST, aircraft design. QueSST is the initial design stage of NASA’s planned Low-Boom Flight Demonstration experimental X-plane. Senior experts […]

SpaceX launched two rockets in three days and brought both back to barges on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. On Friday, company CEO Elon Musk wasn’t sure he’d get his rocket back because it was going to endure the hottest and fastest re-entry to date. “Rocket is extra toasty and hit the deck hard (used […]

Last February, when I was planning a visit to Daher’s factory in Tarbes, France, I was surfing the web looking for airline fares when I saw one from Miami to Madrid for $640; outbound on Iberia, return on American. I see this sort of thing often enough to know that it’s not an everyday thing, […]

Boom Supersonic, which has been working for a few years to develop its ideas for a supersonic airliner, unveiled its final design for a subscale prototype on Tuesday at the Paris Air Show. The company said it will fly the demonstrator next year. “We now have everything required to build history’s first independently developed supersonic […]

“Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.” – Oscar Wilde I can’t think of a better lead in for the latest round of polling that indicates—surprise—the general public opposes the idea of privatizing air traffic control. The latest run at plumbing public sentiment on this topic was […]

On Monday, on opening day at the Paris Air Show, Airbus revealed some new design features for the A380plus, now in development, while Boeing debuted its larger-capacity 737 Max 10. The “enhanced” A380plus will provide airlines with better economics and improved operational performance, Airbus officials said. New winglets and other aerodynamic refinements to the wing […]

E-volo, the German company that has been developing a two-seat VTOL for several years, has signed an agreement with the government of Dubai to test-fly autonomous air taxis in the emirate by the end of this year, the company announced on Monday at the Paris Air Show. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said in […]

When I was shooting today’s video in the Airborne Museum at St. Mere Eglise earlier this month, I was impressed that the museum has on display an example of every little thing the paratroopers carried. And I mean everything, including a box of Smith Brothers Cough Drops. Seeing that unleashed a flood of nostalgia. Those […]

Lufthansa Airlines has chosen the SR20 for its primary training airplane, Cirrus announced on Tuesday. Lufthansa Aviation Training has ordered 25 airplanes to lead its ab initio, multi-crew pilot certificate, and other flight-training programs in Goodyear, Arizona. The SR20s will be used to train pilots from many airlines besides Lufthansa, including Swiss Air, Austrian Airlines, […]