Aviation News

Flight Design’s C4 is the company’s first four-seat, fully certified aircraft. Engineer Robert Adam spoke with AVweb at Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany about the C4’s first flight last week. view on YouTube

Pipistrel’s all-electric trainer, long known as the “WattsUP,” has acquired a commercial designation, the Alpha Electro. And according to chief engineer Tine Tomazic, she’s ready to meet the public. Tomazic gave us the lowdown at Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany. view on YouTube

At Aero Friedrichshafen this week, Kestrel’s Alan Klapmeier spoke with AVweb’s Mary Grady about his rationale in joining forces with Eclipse Aerospace to form the new company, One Aviation. Duration: 5:04 File Size: 11.6 MB download here

In a surprise announcement Monday, Piper Aircraft revealed three new models of its upper strata M-Class aircraft, including a new turboprop called the M600 that’s loosely based on its popular Meridian. With a new G1000 variant from Garmin, the Meridian itself is getting some retooling, becoming the Meridian M500, and the Lycoming-powered Mirage will morph […]

Amazon received an updated letter of approval from the FAA this week to test its package delivery drones after the company said its initial waiver came so late it was “obsolete.” Meanwhile, the FAA stated on its website it’s expediting these types of updated approvals and will also allow sport pilots with driver’s licenses to […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news worldwide found new loan options for AOPA members in Alaska and Hawaii, Textron’s new service center in France, JETTECH’s upgraded avionics STC for Citations, and a call for entries from the National Aviation Hall of Fame.AOPA now offers members in Alaska and Hawaii competitive aircraft loans that were previously difficult […]

Glasair Aviation’s new Merlin LSA had its first flight this week, launching the in-air test phase for the composite light-sport airplane. The flight departed from Arlington, Washington, on Tuesday and lasted for 57 minutes. Following ground tests including engine run-up, high-speed taxi, and ground roll liftoff, test pilot Grant Smith conducted the flight to evaluate […]

With new ADS-B products emerging about every other month, a surprise entrant into the dependent surveillance market may be search giant Google. According to a report in FlightGlobal, at an ICAO meeting last month, Google exec Dave Vos, who heads the company’s Project Wing internet effort, said the company is considering flooding the market with […]

We caught up with space-tourism company World View Enterprises’ CEO Jane Poynter at the Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Dallas, Texas. Poynter described the technology behind World View’s balloon-and-parafoil plan to lift passengers into the upper atmosphere for a several-hour tour of the planet. Duration: 9:42 File Size: 8.1 MB download here

Autogyros are big in Europe — but in the U.S., not so much. The reason for that is primarily regulatory. The U.S. light sport rule doesn’t include rotorcraft. As Paul Bertorelli discovered on this AVweb flight demo, that’s too bad. Gyros are fun and easy to fly, but they do take specific training for the […]