News

You haven’t heard much about ultralights since the advent of the light sport category, but the Part 103 category still exists. But with advances in technology and materials, the latest ultralights are nothing like their irrigation-pipe-and-Dacron ancestors. The Czech-built ZJ-Viera is a carbon-fiber and Ceconite low-wing aircraft that weighs only 160 pounds (100 pounds less […]

The MIT grads who embarked on the heretofore impossible dream of creating a practical roadable aircraft (they dislike the term “flying car”) have found the funding they need to keep going on the project. Terrafugia, as they call it, will fly before the end of the year and they hope to be delivering the $148,000 […]

After some financial turbulence in November, Fantasy Air, the Czech Republic manufacturer of the Allegro Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) is back on solid ground, much to the relief of the folks at Fantasy Air USA. The U.S. company’s president, Doug Hempstead, told AVweb at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla. that the Czech […]

The best selling LSA by far is the Flight Design CT, with more than 240 registered in the U.S., and like most aircraft it’s evolving as the manufacturer gets feedback from owners. The new CTLS promises more predictable flight characteristics thanks to some airframe refinements. The empennage has been lengthened 14 inches, giving better stability, […]

The light-sport aircraft category captured a couple of dozen standard category aircraft by virtue of the performance and weight specs they’d been built with decades ago. And while they’re an appealing option for some pilots, they long ago lost that new airplane smell. At the moment, the only aircraft in this class that’s still under […]

Cirrus kicked off the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla., with an invitation for prospective buyers to put $5,000 deposits on the aircraft, which is polar opposite to Cessna’s LSA offering, the SkyCatcher, in most ways. The SRS is a low-wing composite with a Rotax engine (that allows mogas use) and there was plenty […]

With all its manufacturing and assembly agreements in place, Cessna says it’s ready to get down to the nuts and bolts of delivering its 162 Skycatcher to the more than 900 dealers, flight schools and individuals who have ordered them since its production was formally announced last July. At the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in […]

AOPA will fight any attempt to impose peak-hour pricing (congestion pricing) under AOPA President Phil Boyer’s charge that “all federally funded airports, by law, must be open to all classes of users without unjust discrimination.” Boyer added that general aviation is not the problem causing airline delays and shouldn’t pay a penalty for them. AOPA […]

An initial report offered by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch Friday said interviews with crew and analysis of the “Flight Recorder” aboard the British Airways Boeing 777 200ER that crashed Thursday at Heathrow indicate the aircraft’s engines did not respond to commands from the autothrottle or the flight crew. First Officer John Coward, the flying […]

Day one of the Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla. opened Thursday under gray skies and blustery winds (but little of the much-needed rain that drought-stricken Floridians are hoping for) and vendors are expecting a bigger and more diverse version of the show. AVweb will be running daily photo galleries and watch for updates through […]