Aviation News

Aerospace Center for Excellence and Sun ‘n Fun President John “Lites” Leenhouts officially opened the organization’s new mobile airshow command center on Tuesday. The three-story modular facility can simultaneously serve as a control tower, airshow announcers’ box and air-ground safety center. Sun ‘n Fun also plans to rent out the building, which was constructed from […]

Aviation Safety Resources (ASR) has reached an agreement to acquire parachute company Strong Enterprises, ASR announced at the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo on Tuesday. Strong, which designs, engineers, tests and manufactures parachute systems, has customers in the general aviation and military segments. The acquisition is effective immediately. “The acquisition of Strong Enterprises adds a […]

The Commemorative Air Force is expanding and is offering one new chapter its first classic aircraft to pamper. The CAF says it’s looking for communities that share its passion to showcase and honor U.S. military aviation history. There 83 units that care for and fly 170 aircraft worldwide and three were added last year. CAF […]

Following last year’s cancellation due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the annual Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo opened its doors to high ticket sales and sizable crowds on Tuesday. According to Sun ‘n Fun and Aerospace Center for Excellence (ACE) president John “Lites” Leenhouts, event ticket sales had reached around $1.2 million by Tuesday morning, […]

Middle-East-based VistaJet has taken delivery of its first Bombardier Global 7500 and expects it to enter charter service within the next few months. Two Global 7500s are expected to be available, bringing VistaJet’s overall fleet—more than half of which are registered in the U.S.—to 90 aircraft. VistaJet has another dozen Global 7500s on order from […]

Embracing a retro theme, Textron has announced a 75th anniversary version of the G36 Bonanza that will be available in 2022, marking 75 years since the original Model 35 Bonanza was sold. Textron says the Bonanza is the “longest continuously produced aircraft in history,” and claims there have been more than 18,000 built. “The retro […]

April 12 marked the 40th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch, STS-1. For Paul Dye, former Lead Flight Director who was with NASA through the entire lifespan of the Shuttle, the images are still fresh in his mind. I vividly remember a question the press asked John Young and Bob Crippen before the launch […]

South Korea rolled out a prototype of its developmental jet fighter last week. An F-35 lookalike, the KF-21 is considered a Generation 4.5 fighter, as it does not incorporate internal weapons bays and so is not considered a Gen 5 full-on “stealth” fighter. Nicknamed the “Boramae” (“young hawk trained for hunting”), the KF-21 will carry […]

Aviation development company Sheltair has announced that it is partnering with the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo to support the Aerospace Center for Excellence (ACE). Sheltair, the official fuel provider for the annual expo, has committed to donating $0.10 per gallon on all uplifts during the event to ACE’s Project Skylab in addition to an […]

As Americans prepare to emerge from COVID-19-based restrictions, Southwest Airlines is recalling 209 pilots and more than 2,700 flight attendants to meet summer travel needs. The pilots and flight attendants had participated in the company’s Extended Time-Off Program, in which they accepted partial pay for a minimum of six months and retained certain benefits, travel […]