Aviation News

Bell Helicopters unveiled a 429 modified with four electrically driven tail rotors that it says has proven the concept over almost a year of testing. The Electrically Distributed Anti-Torque (EDAT) system has been flying since last May from the company’s Mirabel, Quebec, facilities and it works just fine. “This is the first time anyone in […]

Police in Vancouver, B.C., are looking for a man who managed to get a commercial floatplane started before ramming two others at a seaplane terminal at the city’s harbor early Friday morning and causing major damage. Police were called to the dock about 3:30 a.m. to investigate reports that a man had tried to steal […]

Gulfstream Aerospace has announced plans to construct a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Texas’s Fort Worth Alliance Airport (AFW). The 160,000-square-foot (14,864-square-meter) service center will include hangar space, back shops and employee and customer offices. Gulfstream expects to break ground on the project in the third quarter of 2020 and open the facility […]

Boeing has discovered foreign object debris (FOD) in the fuel tanks of several stored 737 MAX aircraft. Production of the MAX, which is manufactured at Boeing’s facility in Renton, Washington, was suspended last December pending the recertification of the grounded model. The exact number of aircraft found to have FOD in their fuel tanks has […]

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a safety recommendation urging the FAA to form a working group to “better review, prioritize and integrate” Alaska’s aviation safety needs into its safety enhancement process. The recommendation cited concerns that a lack of coordination and the “silo-like nature” of the FAA are impeding the development of […]

The National Transportation Safety Board is about a year into a project to streamline its accident reporting and it’s training investigators to sharpen their skills on engine failure mishaps, many of which have been closed with no known cause. The NTSB’s vice chairman, Bruce Landsberg, told AVweb in this wide-ranging podcast this month, that a backlog […]

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) announced nine nominees for the 2019 Robert J. Collier Trophy on Wednesday. The trophy, which is presented annually “for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America,” was first awarded in 1911. This year’s nominees are the Airborne Collision Avoidance System Team, Bombardier Global 7500, Gulfstream G500 and G600, […]

The value of aircraft deliveries in 2019 grew more than $2 billion with piston designs seeing the largest segment growth at 16.4 percent. In total, the industry delivered 1,324 piston aircraft in 2019, up from 1,137 last year, with bizjets seeing 15 percent growth, from 703 delivered in 2018 to 809 last year, the highest […]

Continuing its success of aggressively bringing smartly designed ADS-B products to the competitive market, uAvionix now has bragging rights to the first tail-mounted miniature ADS-B Out transponder for GA aircraft, with the tailBeaconX. A follow-on to the successful skyBeacon and tailBeacon position and strobe light/ADS-B Out systems, the tailBeaconX is the company’s answer to an […]

Although the year-on-year growth in aircraft avionics sales slowed in 2019, with an increase of 10.2 percent over 2018, that represents a modest slowing of both retrofit and forward-fit avionics sales from the year before, reports the Aircraft Electronics Association. From 2017 to 2018, the industry grew more than 17 percent. In the last quarter, […]