Business Aviation

Natilus, a small company with just three employees, based in Richmond, California, is working to launch a transoceanic cargo business with airliner-size drones. They are currently building a 30-foot-long prototype that they plan to test this summer, according to their press kit. They then plan to produce a full-scale, 200-foot-long turboprop drone, built of carbon-fiber […]

The FAA banned jets from Florida’s Lantana/Palm Beach County Airport in 1973, but that ban is now lifted, the Palm Beach Post reported on Tuesday. Errol Forman, a retired Eastern Air Lines pilot, had landed his newly acquired 1983 Cessna Citation I/SP jet there in May, and a neighbor reported the violation to authorities. Forman […]

Continental Motors will build a new plant in Mobile, Alabama, the company announced on Monday. The huge new facility, with 225,000 square feet of space, will house both corporate offices and manufacturing space, replacing 11 buildings currently in use across 44 acres at the Mobile Aeroplex. “The current operation being spread throughout multiple buildings, drives […]

Sixteen general aviation advocacy groups joined forces on Tuesday to express their concerns to leaders in the House and Senate about efforts to privatize air traffic control. The organizations cited a proposal promoted by some big airlines for the creation of a new governance and funding model for our nation’s aviation system. “The general aviation […]

Using a biofuel mix to power jet engines reduces particle emissions in their exhaust by as much as 50 to 70 percent compared to conventional fuels, according to a recent NASA study. The new research results, which were published in the scientific journal Nature last week, were derived from a test series using a DC-8 […]

Cessna has started assembly-line production of its Cessna Citation Longitude, in Wichita, Textron said on Monday in a news release. Also, the third jet in the flight-test program has completed its first flight. It will be used mainly to develop avionics and systems, as well as to collect flight-simulator data. The first aircraft flew in […]

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 […]