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Although it started three years after Eclipse went public with its VLJ program, long-established Cessna appears to be catching up to start-up Eclipse with the development of the Mustang. The prototype flew for the first time on April 23 and by Wednesday it had flown at least twice more, said Cessna spokeswoman Jessica Myers. Myers […]

The Oshkosh announcement comes a couple of days after Eclipse released details of an order for up to 300 VLJs to DayJet, a company that hopes to start an on-demand charter service on the eastern seaboard. Eclipse says it has more than 2,000 orders for the 500, which was originally slated to begin delivery this […]

Eclipse Will Be There, Will Cessna? Visitors to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh (July 25-31) may be able to compare firsthand the frontrunners in the very light jet (VLJ) competition. Eclipse plans to make a big entrance with a fully finished type-conforming version of its long-awaited 500 and Cessna is considering flying the prototype of its […]

Of course, the spinoff from such an industry could be huge and the maneuvering to capitalize on it has begun. According to the South Florida Business Journal, at least 10 states, including Florida, are trying to convince the new space tourism companies to choose them as bases for their operations. The paper says the research […]

Rutan told the hearing that the regulatory process almost scuttled his Paul Allen-financed bid to win the Ansari X Prize, which his team accomplished last October. Although SpaceShipOne and White Knight bear little resemblance to the classic booster/payload arrangement that has typified space flight to date, under the FAA’s new Office of Commercial Space Transportation, […]

Rutan Criticizes Regs, Regulators Burt Rutan may have conquered space but he’s not so sure he can crack space bureaucracy. The iconic aviation innovator gave legislators an earful last week when he testified before the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee. If the government lets him, Rutan envisions a franchise-like system for operators who want to […]

The air tanker that crashed was one of 10 aircraft the National Interagency Fire Center approved last Monday to return to the firefighting fleet, saying it would monitor them closely for signs of fatigue. The 10 included seven of Aero Union’s P-3 Orions. Two fatal crashes in 2002 led to the grounding of large air […]

Three Killed In P-3B Crash Three crew members died last Wednesday when a Lockheed P-3B firefighting air tanker crashed immediately following a fire-retardant training drop in Lassen National Forest near Chico, Calif. Killed were Brian Bruns, 45, of Minden, Nev.; Paul Cockrell, 52, of Fresno; and chief pilot Thomas Joseph Lynch, 41, of Redding. “They […]

The effort seems to be driven by the NWS’s recently revamped Web site, which makes weather data more easily available. AccuWeather, a private weather provider based in Pennsylvania, has been critical of the NWS and supportive of the bill to change it. AccuWeather spokesman Barry Myers told the Post the bill would improve public safety […]

Making Users Pay The National Weather Service (NWS) would be restricted from offering any products to the public that are or could be provided by the commercial weather industry, under legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate recently by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). The “National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005” would “modernize the description of […]