News

Two power-boosting changes for Mooney aircraft by Midwest Modifications have been granted STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) approval from the FAA, the company announced on Tuesday. One STC allows the company to modify the 280-hp turbocharged engine of the Mooney Acclaim to increase the maximum power to 310 hp. With this change, Midwest says, the Mooney […]

Adam Aircraft has suspended operations at its Colorado facilities. In a short news release, the company said the action was taken “due to the inability of the company to come to terms with their lender for funding necessary to maintain business operations.” The news release doesn’t identify the lender, but previous rounds of financing, totalling […]

AVweb learned over the weekend that the navigation database in some Bendix/King KLN94 GPS units might be incomplete. A flight instructor from California told us that his home airport, Palo Alto (PAO), did not appear on several KLN94 units installed in various aircraft on the field. The instructor said he called Bendix/King customer support and […]

A Florida pilot is hoping to fly a Learjet around the world on biodiesel in the next year. Douglas Rodante and his group Green Flight flew a Czech-built L-29 to about 16,000 feet in Nevada last October on biodiesel and is hoping the FAA will let him take the same aircraft on an eight-stop trip […]

New Zealand company Falcompositehas flown a prototype of a two-place aerobatic kit plane that its projecting will fly 180 knots on 180 hp and stall at 50 knots. The Furio will come with retractable or fixed tricycle gear and the sleek-looking prototype, which first flew on Sunday, will be unveiled at Aucklands Ardmore Aerodrome on […]

A New Zealand newspaper reporter claims he was able to board both legs of a return trip from Christchurch to Napier with a six-inch knife and a toy gun in his carry-on baggage a day after a bizarre hijacking attempt in which two pilots and a passenger were allegedly injured by a knife-wielding Somali woman. […]

As the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) continues to declare staffing emergencies at the nations busiest air traffic facilities, the FAAs man in charge of training and hiring controllers told AVweb in an exclusive interview last week that the skies are not as dark as NATCA would have the public believe. They can make […]

Reaction Engines of Oxford, United Kingdom, says its A2 design could carry 300 passengers at close to 4,000 miles per hour, flying from Belgium to Australia in about five hours … 25 years from now. “Our work shows it is possible, technically. Now it’s up to the world to decide if it wants it,” Reaction’s […]

Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, both Democrats representing New Jersey, announced Thursday they would block President Bush’s nomination of Robert Sturgell from reaching the Senate floor for a vote, according to The Associated Press. The two Senators based their stand on flight delays originating in East Coast airspace and Sturgell’s actions as acting administrator […]

The total cost of a NextGen system empowering pilots with satellite-based air traffic control information is expected by the FAA to cost up to $22 billion, but that figure may be very conservative. At least one analyst, Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III, forecasts that software development alone will push costs over $50 […]