briefs

Demolition crews advanced upon Meigs Field early Tuesday morning, despite pleas from the aviation community for a moratorium on destruction. “The day we had all feared has arrived,” lamented AOPA President Phil Boyer. “Meigs is no more.” But the undaunted Friends of Meigs does not so easily give up. “The city seems to be running […]

On Monday, Avocet Aircraft, headquartered in Westport, Conn., announced that it will work with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), manufacturer of Gulfstream bizjets, to develop and market the Avocet Professional Jet, a six-seat, twin-turbofan, all-metal-fuselage jet designed for the air-taxi and fractional markets. Projected sales price is about $2 million, with deliveries projected to start in […]

Later this year, the CarterCopter will be ready to break the Mu-1 barrier, company prez Jay Carter Jr. said at AirVenture last week. And just to show he has confidence, he plans to do it at Texas Motor Speedway in front of thousands of spectators, on November 22. Achieving Mu-1 means the gyroplane will be […]

Give some bright kids a few bucks and a junkyard and what can they come up with? “You just wait,” says Al Janiszewski, who, a few weeks ago, was Col. Al Janiszewski and watching in amazement as a collection of wet-behind-the-ears military researchers revolutionized aircraft propulsion, promising zero to Mach 4 on regular gas and […]

How big is too big? For the people who run Teterboro Airport in New Jersey — by some standards the busiest GA airport in the country — the limit is 100,000 pounds, regardless of what the FAA says. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says it will fight FAA pressure to allow […]

On Friday at 12:53 p.m. a Van’s RV and a Lancair experimental aircraft made contact as they both rolled out on Runway 27 at OSH. We know the time, because we heard it. Last year, there were 339 incursions recorded by the FAA, down 17 percent from previous years. Of course, normal operations at EAA […]

What’s not to like? We dropped the thing into a 2,450- by 20-foot strip (watch the streaming video) after a short jaunt at 170 knots with four full seats and 70 gallons of fuel. Then, still rolling, we tested the 310-hp Continental and climbed out at 1,000 feet per minute somewhere near 100 knots while […]

It’s a dream that has eluded aircraft designers for almost a century but a California engineer and A&P mechanic says his strange-looking craft will end the quest. “Real freedom of flight is when you don’t have to use an airport,” said AMV Aircraft owner and designer Atilla Melkuti. A six-foot vaned fan under the belly […]

This year’s centennial celebration of the Wright brothers’ first flight is fueling an interest in a wide variety of events in aviation history. EAA’s AirVenture Museum is hosting a special exhibit on Charles Lindbergh, featuring rarely seen historical documents and photos. One highlight is a display of the actual Mercator chart that Lindbergh carried from […]

Tucked down in the south corner of AirVenture, ultralights are as strong as ever. The little grass runway sees lots of activity, and the pattern is filled with nearly a dozen at a time. Ultralights of all kinds are here — powered parachutes, powered hang gliders, open-cockpit planes, and fully enclosed planes. There is even […]