leadnews

Contract talks between the FAA and air traffic controllers remain at impasse, but John Carr, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), claims it doesn’t have to be that way. “We have always been dedicated to good-faith bargaining and a voluntary agreement, and we still believe both good faith and an agreement are […]

“We are absolutely delighted with this flight,” said Diamond CEO Christian Dries, who flew the chase aircraft. “The test flight went exactly as planned. … Our crew did a fabulous job.” The D-Jet is a five-seat single-engine personal jet, powered by the FADEC-controlled Williams FJ33 turbine and equipped with Garmin all-glass flight deck and autopilot. […]

Diamond Aircraft flew its single-engine D-Jet SN001 for the first time Tuesday afternoon, taking off from London International Airport in Ontario, home of Diamond’s North American operation. After a run of high-speed taxi and rotation tests, the jet lifted off at 5:08 p.m. and flew for an hour and six minutes. Nineteen distinct test points […]

Linear Air, based in Lexington, Mass., says it’s seen revenues increase 450 percent in a year in its on-demand and semi-scheduled service using eight-seat Cessna Caravans. The luxury-appointed Caravans carry customers to up to 500 destinations in the Northeast and eastern Canada as well as seasonal service to the Caribbean. The company, which recently added […]

A North Dakota air taxi service using Cirrus SR22 aircraft quietly began service in January and is apparently working the kinks out. Point2Point now has eight employees (including two pilots) and operates two aircraft. It’s averaging two flights a day carrying business travelers on short hops that would otherwise mean a long drive. Chief Financial […]

AOPA says the Canadian experience proves the main point in its continued opposition to the imposition of user fees by the FAA. President Phil Boyer says that private corporations are always looking for new sources of revenue and that’s the wrong foundation on which to base the management of the airspace system. “Air traffic control […]

Psutka says COPA’s only recourse now is to launch an appeal to the Canadian Transportation Agency, the government body that oversees matters such as this. He said the daily charge violates a fundamental safety consideration that resulted in the flat fee (currently $71 CAD per year for aircraft weighing less than 4,400 pounds). The daily […]

The head of Canada’s largest pilots’ group says U.S. aviators would be wise to consider what’s happening north of the border as the specter of user fees hangs over American GA. Kevin Psutka, head of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA), says Nav Canada’s unilateral decision to impose daily fees on GA aircraft using […]

Diesel engines especially stand to benefit from the technology, the Scuderi Group says, because the engine wouldn’t need turbocharging, injectors, or exhaust treatment. So far, the design has attracted some $8 million in investment, including $1.2 million in government funding, the company said. Besides the efficiency gains, the engine would reduce toxic emissions by up […]

A new design for an internal-combustion engine, which debuted in Detroit last week at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, will double the fuel efficiency of today’s engines, according to its inventors. The Scuderi Group, based in West Springfield, Mass., has several patents on the engine. Extensive virtual-design work has been done, and the […]