Aviation News

Right up front, we’ll say we’ve heard the same complaints about Lockheed Martin’s handling of the Flight Service Station contract as everyone else: Long wait times, dropped calls, lost flight plans and briefers lacking local knowledge of the areas they cover. Lockheed Martin’s Dan Courain, the company’s VP of aviation services, says he has gotten […]

It’s axiomatic that to survive in the business of general aviation, a manufacturer has to constantly roll out new models or, at the very least, improved versions of the standing product line. Diamond has done both and at this week’s AOPA Expo in Hartford, it announced two new variants of the DA40, the XLS and […]

Does the world really need an unpressurized Piper Mirage? Piper thinks it does and at the AOPA Expo show in Hartford this week, it announced the new Matrix which, although technically a new type certificate, is really a variant of the well-established Malibu/Mirage series. Piper CEO Jim Bass told AVweb this week that it believes […]

Diamond Aircraft announced two new models of the DA40 at AOPA Expo in Hartford on Thursday. A bells-and-whistles version called the XLS features a major upgrade of the Garmin GFC 700 to include WAAS with VNAV, electronic charts, Safe Taxi and a full page engine display on the multi function display. Options include Jeppesen Chartview, […]

The people of Bend, Ore. are likely sighing relief today after Cessna CEO Jack Pelton said the Columbia Aircraft plant will be maintained and there will also be “significant” investment in the company if Cessna is the successful bidder for Columbia’s assets. “It will stay in Bend, Ore.,” Pelton told a crowded news conference at […]

After a year or two of back-and-forth with Columbia Aircraft, with both companies claiming to have the fastest piston single airplane, Mooney now says its Acclaim Type S model will take the top spot, no questions asked. The Pilot’s Operating Handbook for the Type S (S is for “speed,” of course) will show a 10-knot […]

AOPA Expo opened on Thursday morning with a thousand pilots or so attending a general session on the “megatrend” of owner-flown turbines, introduced by AOPA President Phil Boyer and hosted by AOPA Pilot Editor-in-chief Tom Haines. The crowd listened politely as Cessna CEO Jack Pelton and Matt Huff, of Williams engines, talked up the wonders […]

The airframe of the new Matrix is essentially identical to the Piper Mirage, Piper officials said at AOPA Expo on Thursday morning, but there is one significant difference – the new Matrix is not pressurized. The goal was to create an aircraft that would satisfy a demand for an airplane with a large cabin, robust […]

Cessna will offer the 172S Skyhawk with a Thielert turbo diesel engine with deliveries to start in mid-2008. In an announcement at AOPA Expo in Hartford, Conn., Cessna officials said the decision to offer the diesel came after extensive market surveys and flight testing. “The Skyhawk is already the best-selling, most-flown airplane ever with more […]

Aspen Avionics has accelerated its relocation plans to accommodate rapid growth, the company announced on Thursday, and has moved into new corporate headquarters almost a year ahead of schedule. The company nearly quadrupled its space, moving from a 6,000-square-foot facility to 23,000-square-foot building in Albuquerque’s TechCommons Business Center. The company is in the final stages […]