briefs

Hayden Lake, Idaho-based Aerostar Aircraft unveiled its latest model, the Aerostar 702P, at AOPA Expo. The company holds the type certificate of the venerable recip twin, but is now only modifying previously manufactured Aerostars to this new model. Aerostar vice president Jim Christy told AVweb at the show that the 702P recently completed extensive FAA […]

Van’s Aircraft’s entry in the LSA category had its first flight last Thursday. The mini-RV, which sports many of the characteristics of its larger stablemates (bubble canopy and a big, fat wing), was flown by company founder Dick VanGrunsven, who put it through a variety of speed profiles and basic handling tests. “Its far too […]

Late last week the NTSB said its investigation of Comair Flight 5191 continues to make progress. The board will not hold a public hearing on this investigation, but the public docket is expected to open in January. According to the NTSB, the docket will contain the cockpit voice recorder transcript, flight data recorder information and […]

One of the first high-tech American-built light sport aircraft (LSA) made the trip to Palm Springs for AOPA Expo on a trailer, but it should be flying freely soon. The Nexaer LS1, with its distinctive swooping fuselage, has flown a couple of hours at home base at Meadow Lake Airport near Peyton, Colo., but its […]

NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), which is widely used by pilots and other airline employees to identify potential safety hazards, last week marked its 30-year anniversary. Established under a memorandum of understanding between NASA and the FAA, the system collects, analyzes and responds to voluntarily submitted aviation safety incident reports to reduce aviation accidents […]

The project that started the very light jet movement almost 30 years ago might be revived in a modern form. Millennium Aerospace earlier this year purchased the rights to manufacture the rakish little jet that Tony Fox predicted would revolutionize air travel when he introduced it in 1977. Although there are plenty of opinions about […]

AVweb staffers managed to see quite a bit at the AOPA Expo on Friday – and in between press conferences and tire-kicking, we even managed to snap a few photos. Sample the sights of the AOPA Expo without ever leaving your computer chair, in our Day Two Gallery. Click here for photos.

At AOPA Expo, both Thielert Aircraft Engines and SMA are promoting their diesel engines for light general aviation airplanes as efficient and greener alternatives to avgas-fueled powerplants. On Thursday, Thielert said Van Bortel Aircraft in Arlington, Va., will install the Centurion 1.7 diesel aircraft engines in brand-new Cessna 172 Skyhawks, which Bortel will then resell […]

Can a video game (albeit a pretty sophisticated video game) make you a better pilot? Bruce Williams thinks so and he’s written the book on the subject, called Microsoft Flight Simulator as a Training Aid. Williams, a 30-year pilot and instructor who was also the business development director for Microsoft Flight Simulator, told a news […]

Pegasus Interactive is at AOPA Expo touting new additions to its VFLITE series of aviation training software for PCs, including the Weight & Balance Visualizer, CFI iTools and GPSMAP 496 Interactive Guide. Its new VFLITE Weight & Balance Visualizer software instantly determines and displays center of gravity and weight loading, ensuring that an aircraft is […]