Business Aviation

I got a haircut this week so my special interest hat fits just right. Also, my choir robe is back from the cleaners to I can preach in the full resplendence of sartorial perfection. Yes, that’s right, I’m going to yammer briefly about the bid for ATC privatization that popped up—to no one’s particular surprise—in […]

The proposed budget of the United States, presented in abridged form today by the White House, would eliminate the Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program, reports The New York Times. EAS currently provides the only form of commercial air transportation to 60 communities in Alaska and 115 communities in the lower 48 states, […]

Luigi Pascale, the founder, president and chief preliminary design officer at Tecnam Aircraft, died at age 93 on Tuesday, after a brief illness. Pascale’s interest in aviation started young, when he entered model airplane races with his brother Giovanni. He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and in 1951, he and Giovanni built their […]

Embraer, which is based in Brazil, now is forming new innovation campuses in Silicon Valley and Boston, the company announced on Tuesday. “A major transformation is unfolding worldwide, and it has been accelerated by the evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles,” said Antonio Campello, Embraer’s director of corporate innovation, who will […]

David Esteves, 52, who was director of maintenance at the now-defunct Avantair fractional-ownership company, pleaded guilty on Friday in a federal court to charges that he tampered with evidence during investigations by the FAA and NTSB. Both agencies were looking into why an Avanti turboprop crew flew from California to Nevada, with passengers on board, […]

Two unusual aircraft are working their way through development and preparing to fly soon. The damage to the Airlander hybrid lighter-than-air cargo aircraft, sustained during a test flight last August in England, has been repaired, and crews are prepping it for another flight soon. While completing repairs, the company also made several improvements to the […]

With a new cost-cutting budget proposal from President Donald Trump expected on Thursday, general aviation advocates took the offensive on Monday and sent a letter to Congress asking them to protect funding for contract towers. NBAA, AOPA and eight other groups sent a letter to Congress asking them to fully fund the towers in the […]

Concept vehicles are a staple of auto and motorcycle shows. These sometimes dingbat creations aren’t meant to be serious design efforts, but flights of fancy intended to create buzz and garner press attention. Aviation shows rarely have the equivalent, at least from major manufacturers. The last one I can think of is the Cessna NGP. […]

Events recognizing the impact of women coincided this week, with the celebration of International Women’s Day on Wednesday, Women of Aviation Worldwide Week March 6 to 11 and the wrap-up of Women in Aviation International’s annual conference, which was held March 2-4 in Florida, drawing some 4,500 attendees. WAI continued its work in matching women […]

Text messaging may be old hat to cellphone users, but it is still new in the air-traffic control system, where the FAA this week announced that it is now operational at Miami International Airport, the 12th busiest airport in North America. The text-based communication system, known as “Data Comm,” represents “a whole new era of […]