News

The latest company trying to resume production of Commander piston singles says it will be taking orders for aircraft in two months. The announcement from Commander Premier Aircraft Corp. came after the FAA granted the company Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) following a field audit of its new production facilities in Cape Girardeau, Mo. “This is […]

A veteran British airline captain has surrendered his license after City Star Airways Dornier 328 with 17 passengers on board came within 400 feet of terrain on an aborted sightseeing excursion over the rugged Shetland Islands off Scotland. According to the Shetland Times, Capt. Roger Old clipped his own wings as authorities were preparing to […]

Hartzell props will soon be available with factory-installed deicing systems. Until now, aftermarket vendors have built and installed the systems, but Hartzell said it now plans to offer the system on its full range of deiceable props. The new Hartzell deice components will replace previous, third-party manufactured deice parts, including deicer boots, wire harnesses and […]

With the stroke of a pen, the production life of the Boeing 747-400 passenger jet came to an abrupt end last week, but its hardly the end of the line for the aircraft family that started the jumbo movement in 1969. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Boeing technically had four more -400s to build but […]

Saab Avitronics says it has successfully tested a missile defense system aimed at the civilian market that doesnt use white-hot magnesium to confuse the heat-seeking heads on Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) missiles. The potential collateral damage from the hundreds of flaming flares used in most military countermeasures has been a stumbling block to […]

APS Emergency Maneuver Training, an Arizona upset recovery training school, says it has developed a single set of in-flight procedures to recover from virtually any uncontrolled flight attitude, outside of a fully developed spin. Called the All-Attitude Upset Recovery Technique, the deceptively simple protocol is aimed at reinforcing the correct, and usually counterintuitive, actions to […]

At a very light jet panel at the FAA forecast in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Eclipse Aviation Director of Public Relations Andrew Broom swept aside the myth that VLJ pilots were limited to rich dentists. He said that VLJs are easier to fly than twin-engine pistons, and that the Eclipse 500 was efficient at flight […]

On Friday morning at the FAA forecast conference in Washington, D.C., AOPA’s Randy Kenagy discussed the change in attitude by his association’s 410,000 members in its latest survey. Some 66 percent said that the political environment is not so good, even when 30 miles from the Bush administration; 80 percent of AOPA members were diverted […]

In its annual forecast, the FAA believes a 9.1-percent increase in piston-single shipments for 2006 is evidence that “sales in the low-end of the market” have been stimulated by a selection of new aircraft models (presumably light sport aircraft), though general aviation activity overall declined in 2006. “GA operations at combined FAA and contract towers […]

The European Parliament has included in a draft law a measure to expand the powers of the Germany-based European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and work toward uniform safety standards across Europe. The plan would allow EASA more precise power by allowing EASA to impose fines for carriers that break safety rules and function in a […]