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The war of words between Diamond Aircraft and Thielert Aircraft Engines continued this week, reaching a low arc at the Berlin Air Show. Bruno Kubler, who heads the firm overseeing Thielert’s insolvency, used the forum to blast Diamond for what Kubler claimed was a disinformation campaign aimed at making Diamond customers “massively insecure.” Why Diamond […]

Owners of more than 800 diesel-powered Diamond aircraft are collectively holding their breath to find out how-or even if-their expensive engines will be supported following the disastrous financial meltdown and bankruptcy of Thielert last month. One question gnawing at these owners and owners of Cessnas and Pipers converted to Thielert diesels is whether the engine […]

Garmins G1000 is arguably the King Dog of all light aircraft EFIS. Its capable, has terrific displays and lately, with the G700, it leads the league in autopilot integration. Its also overly complex, expensive and not always easy to use, which is why Ive had a largely ambivalent feeling about it. I encounter the G1000 […]

When you’re used to being the center of a particular universe and that universe shifts orbits (or whatever it is they do), what do you do? Well, you pay $26 for a nice, but by no means monumental, plate of carbonara, $207 a night for a franchise hotel room and buy power converters so all […]

Carl Spaatz and Ira Eakin-the two legendary leaders of U.S. air power in World War II–just got it all wrong when they decided to bomb the German ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt in 1943. What they should have been bombing is the factories that make those little skinny spring washers that the Germans cant seem […]

It would be too easy to take shots based on the events that led up to Tuesday’s announcement that DayJet was scaling back rather than turning into the aviation supernova that some had predicted. It’s probably worth noting that I can’t ever remember DayJet saying they were going to set the aviation world on its […]

A few years ago I paid a visit to Linear Air, a small start-up just outside Boston that hoped to make a go of it as an air-taxi operator. CEO Bill Herp figured there had to be a better solution for business flyers than the way the airlines did it. The idea was to fly […]

Give the board at Thielert credit for one thing-theyre not footdraggers. Late last week, the board wasted no time in moving the company into bankruptcy proceedings in the wake of an investigation into financial anomalies surrounding the companys initial public offering in 2005 and the subsequent tanking of the stock. German securities regulators and law […]

Something that’s always struck me as odd about this whole user fee thing is that it’s one of those rare political issues where the proletariats have come to the rescue of the bourgeoisie.When then-FAA Administrator Marion Blakey first started speaking openly about the need to change the way the FAA was funded with user fees, […]

Developing a new aircraft engine for general aviation is such a daunting undertaking that not many companies attempt it, including Lycoming and Continental. It’s not that it’s technically difficult-compared to the automotive industry, the engineering is actually relatively rudimentary. The challenge is selling enough of them to make the enterprise profitable after you’ve jumped the […]