Aviation News

Despite some eyewitness reports, including one from a longtime pilot, it’s still not clear what led to the crash of a law-enforcement version of a Flight Design light sport aircraft in California last week. Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Ballantyne, 52, and James Chavez, 45, a pilot for the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, died when the specially […]

AVweb’s search of news in aviation found announcements from FlyThisSim, Rectrix Aviation, Aviator Flight Training and Baldwin Aviation. Increasing demand for FlyThisSim TouchTrainers from international customers has prompted FlyThisSim to integrate worldwide navigation data into their range of TouchTrainers. “TouchTrainer customers can now switch their simulators to fly approaches into airfields in any country,” said […]

What to make of Mooney’s new M20V Acclaim Ultra? It’s at once more than I ever expected and less than I might have wished. Then again, in this business, the survivors learn that the orbits of expectation rarely intersect with those of reality and we all know about wishes, horses and beggars. But give the […]

General aviation manufacturing saw declines in the overall market worldwide as shipments for airplanes are reported down for 2015 over the previous year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported Wednesday (PDF). Airplane shipments declined 4.6 percent, from 2,376 units in 2014 to 2,267 units in 2015. GA airplane billings also are down 4 percent with […]

A bill that would cap flight-training benefits for veterans at $20,235 should be scrapped, seven GA advocacy groups told Congress in a letter (PDF) issued today. “This legislation would effectively put flying careers out of reach for many vets,” said Jim Coon, AOPA spokesman for government affairs. “There are great jobs in aviation, and our […]

The former president of Sikorsky Aircraft was killed along with his passenger when his P-51D crashednear Maricopa, Arizona, on Friday. Jeffrey Pino, 61, was head of Sikorsky from 2006 to 2012. He was flying the Mustang, named Big Beautiful Doll, when it went down. The passenger was identified as Nickolas Tramontano, 71, of Brookfield, Connecticut. […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news worldwide found announcements from Avidyne, Jeppesen, Beechcraft and the National Air Transportation Association. Avidyne Corporationannounced that they are offering a new lower-priced IFD440 FMS/GPS/NAV/COM, starting at $12,399, including mounting tray and installation kit.The new entry-level pricing option allows customers to add wireless (Wi-Fi & Bluetooth) for $1,300 and Forward Looking […]

Better batteries for electric aircraft are in the works, but it may be five years before we see significant improvements in energy density, according to a leading battery researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Jeff Chamberlain, who heads the lab’s Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Research Science, told AVweb in an exclusive interview […]

Paul Bertorelli recently sat down with Jeff Chamberlain from the Argonne National Laboratory as part of his research for an in-depth comparison of battery technologies for our sister publicationAviation Consumer. Chamberlain had a lot to say about the future of battery technology and its impact on the push toward electric airplanes. Read more here. Duration: […]

GA pilots will have affordable Wi-Fi in their airplanes within about three years and much greater access to space-based services thanks to a $3 billion investment by a Virginia company. Starting in April, Iridium will launch the first of 72 new communications satellites that will, among other things, increase the speed of its Internet signals […]