News

July 3 marked the first flight, a 45-minute jaunt, of Cirrus Design’s The-Jet — the company says the five-plus-two seat aircraft “performed flawlessly.” The first aircraft is dubbed “V1” for verification and validation testing. It, like other Cirrus aircraft, flies with a full-plane parachute — unlike other Cirri, The-Jet is powered by a Williams FJ33-4A-19. […]

Almost 65 years to the day after the original 390th Bomber Group departed for their trip across the Atlantic, the Liberty Belle B-17 is repeating her historic journey to England. The flight, which departed on June 30, took the historic aircraft on its original famed route, which originates from its home base in Georgia. Day […]

While Australia’s GA community has problems, in Greece, no GA community even exists. “Which is precisely why the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA) decided to hold their biennial World Assembly in Athens,” the group said this week. “Yiouli Kalafati, president of AOPA Hellas (Greece), wanted to show Greek authorities what they […]

Too much regulation and too many small airports closing down or being sold off to the private sector are the main culprits causing the decline of general aviation in Australia, according to the Australian unit of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. “A viable GA industry is essential for the health and expansion of aviation […]

Kate Hanni, an advocate for airline passengers’ rights, put it this way this week: “We won’t take this sitting down (or belted to a seat locked in the upright position) any longer!” A federal judge in Oakland, Calif., has agreed to hear her case against American Airlines, the airline that left her and a planeful […]

What are the differences between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama when it comes to issues involving aviation and aerospace? A special report by Aviation Week this week examines their policies, noting that “for many aerospace and aviation interests, McCain is a known but feared quantity, while Obama is a blank slate.” FAA reauthorization, fuel […]

U.S. pilots who fly in Canada pay a fee for their use of their airspace, but recently, the Canada Revenue Agency (the equivalent of the IRS) told Nav Canada it should have been collecting taxes on top of those fees. So the agency is trying to retroactively collect those taxes, going back five years, AOPA […]

The Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating a complaint that the FAA certified the Eclipse E500 jet “despite safety concerns raised by the engineers and test pilots,” USA Today reported on Tuesday, citing “congressional officials.” A briefing on the report is expected “within weeks,” according to Jim Berard, spokesman for the House Transportation […]

Epic Aircraft will certify its factory-model turboprops and jets in Canada, even though a deal to build a “certification center” specializing in composite aircraft in Calgary has fallen through. Calgary is the center of Canada’s oil boom and that’s increased construction prices dramatically so the center, proposed for Springbank Airport, was shelved. But that doesn’t […]

VistaJet became the second-largest business jet company outside of North America on Tuesday with the completion of the blockbuster deal that was among the highlights of the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in May in Geneva. For an undisclosed amount, VistaJet acquired Bombardier Skyjet International. The EBACE announcement included a deal for 35 […]