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The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) last week announced that its board of directors had elected new officials to lead the association in 2007, while approving membership applications from Eclipse Aviation, SINO Swearingen and SMA (Societe de Motorisations Aeronautiques), which develops diesel engines for aircraft. At the board of directors meeting, John J. Grisik, executive […]

“Soon” is about all Eclipse Aviation will say when asked when the company will deliver its first production Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ). Despite recent setbacks involving what could be considered teething pains on its flight-test fleet — which led the company to ground those airplanes as a precautionary measure — Eclipse this week […]

If, after record-setting attendance levels at the recent annual conventions of both the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), industry participants need further evidence of business aviation’s viability and growth potential, we refer you to the plans of the Middle East Business Aviation Association. The organization, formed earlier […]

Has it been 10 years already since Cessna restarted its piston-engine single production? According to Cessna, which earlier this month celebrated completing the 7,000th single-engine piston to emerge from its Independence, Kan., facility, it has. Thankfully, the math is easy: An average of 700 new piston-engined singles have emerged from that factory since 1996, adding […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page. If that doesn’t work, click here to download the video directly. On Monday, Honda Aircraft lifted the veil of secrecy at its Greensboro, N.C., facility, where the company designed, developed, built and is now flying its very light jet (VLJ), the HondaJet. The […]

The fate of two U.S. pilots “detained” by Brazilian authorities after their new Embraer Legacy 600 apparently collided in midair with a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 on Sept. 29 remains undecided. All 154 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing died after the suspected collision apparently crippled the airliner. Most recently, the National Business Aviation Association […]

In her appearance at AOPA, Blakey said she did not support a new funding system that would entail “broad user fees.” Later, when asked to clarify, she told attendees, “Everybody who uses the air traffic control system should pay their fair share, including the public through a continued general fund contribution,” according to the association. […]

When the new Congress convenes in January, will general and business aviation be better or worse off? Will members of that Congress, the 110th, be more inclined to support creating user fees and more security-related restrictions, or less? And who will be the major players? It’s still a bit early to answer all of those […]

Alan H. Conklin, co-founder of Conklin & de Decker, a leading business aviation research, consulting and education firm, died last week near his home in Orleans, Mass. He was 86. Conklin first began his aviation career as an instrument instructor pilot for the U.S. Army Air Corps in the early 1940s; later, he served as […]

It used to be that the only thing simple about buying a fractional share of a business jet was you knew you had to write a series of big checks. In recent years, fractional operators have worked at simplifying their offerings, including so-called “jet cards,” which are essentially pre-paid charter agreements. Now, Connecticut-based CitationShares, a […]