News

EADS Socata hopes to revolutionize its manufacturing processes through the use of new advanced composites manufacturing techniques that could provide it lighter parts, for less money, built in less time. In partnership with other private-sector entities it would provide 32 percent toward a EU$9.3 million FUSCOMP, short for fuselage composite, program for the manufacture of […]

Bombardier saw a fourth-quarter gain in profits of 30-percent based in part on higher deliveries of business jets, according to the company. By the numbers, that translated to 69 bizjets amounting to an increase of 6.2 percent and buttressed by a record 274 orders. Bombardier Aerospace president Pierre Beaudoin last week told reporters, “Learjet is […]

Embraer’s first four- to six-passenger $2.75 million Phenom 100 jet, announced in May 2005, is headed for final assembly. Production and design planning of Phenom jets are entirely digital, allowing for pre-production parts manufacturing forecasts (“virtual” production) and a smooth production process, according to Embraer. The second Phenom very light jet is already in the […]

WHAT’S NEWThis month AVweb‘s survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you a heated wing deicer, a diesel engine for Cessna 172s, a multi-tool with universal socket and more.

It took more than 60 years, but arguably one of the most effective fighter squadrons of World War II is getting the formal recognition that matches its historic and cultural impact. Members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black P-51 group that protected B-17 bombers over Europe, on Thursday were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in […]

Embraer says its entry in the entry-level jet sweepstakes is starting to look like an airplane. The first Embraer Phenom 100 fuselage and wing are being mated at the company’s Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil facility and the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617 engines should be installed soon. That puts the very light jet project […]

Indian airlines are apparently eating their young as flight instructors desperately needed to train the thousands of pilots they need are, instead, being offered jobs as pilots. According to Daily News and Analysis, 18 of 35 flight schools in India are out of business because they have no instructors and foreign CFIs that are attracted […]

Greensboro, N.C., already knows it will be home to the HondaJet, but it apparently wants more. All signs point to the joint GE/Honda engine plant being built at Burlington-Alamance (N.C.) Regional Airport, but Greensboro officials are trying to convince Honda to put the plant at its Piedmont-Triad International Airport alongside the airplane factory. Kathi Dubel, […]

The Air Force may retire up to 30 C-5 Galaxy aircraft in favor of boosting the order for the more modern and generally more versatile C-17. The Air Force currently has 190 C-17s on order but Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee, told GovExec.com that the administrations plan to boost […]

The Department of Transportations Office of Inspector General says the FAA needs to significantly step up oversight of contracted repair facilities used by airlines for everything from minor adjustments to major repairs. The OIG report to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committees aviation subcommittee, delivered by DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovell, says the FAA doesnt […]