News

If one used an old-style phonograph record as a metaphor by which to measure how successful an annual National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual meeting and convention might be, there are pieces of smashed vinyl all over the Orange County (Fla.) Convention Center. And none of it should come as a surprise: AVweb noted before […]

Everything might be bigger in Texas, but not everythings better, especially when it comes to the cost of operating the states fleet of two Cessna piston singles, four Cessna Conquests and five Beech King Air B200s. The Texas state auditor said a recent review of flight services provided by the state Department of Transportations aviation […]

My, how time flies. Has it really been 40 years since the Gulfstream GII made its first flight? It has, according to the company, which noted the occasion last week. On Oct. 2, 1966, Grumman Aerospace test pilots Carl Alber and Bob Smythe flew the first Gulfstream II (GII) on its maiden flight from Bethpage, […]

In response to recent mandates by Congress, the FAA is changing its rules to require written permission from a supplemental type certificate (STC) holder to use its data for follow-on installations that alter the affected aircraft, engine or propeller. The changes became effective Oct. 2, 2006. Although written in a manner requiring the STC holder […]

San Antonio, Texas-based Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. (SSAC) is being visited by Taiwan Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang this week. The company is a joint venture in which Taiwan holds a more than 90-percent share. According to the China Post, the vice minister was at SSACs headquarters mainly to find out why it […]

Next week’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual meeting and convention promises to offer a little something for everyone and a lot for most of us. The event, scheduled for the Orange County Convention Center Oct. 17 through 19, is the 59th edition of NBAA’s annual extravaganza and, according to the association, exhibit floor and […]

It’s one thing to be involved in an apparent midair collision. It’s another to survive it — even though all aboard the other aircraft perished. But it’s beyond the pale when the country in which you made an emergency landing accuses you and a fellow crewmember of several regulatory violations, seizes your passport and detains […]

One day before Eclipse earned its full type certificate, Adam Aircraft received an amended FAA type certificate for its all-composite A500 pressurized centerline-thrust piston twin. The six-seat Adam A500 was originally type certificated in May 2005, but that approval came with several limitations. Now, those limitations have been removed and the A500 becomes the first […]

There were some 460 attendees at last week’s 10th annual Bombardier Learjet Safety Standdown 2006, held at the Wichita (Kan.) Hyatt Regency Oct. 2-5 and, if all of them were as positive about the experience as those with whom AVweb spoke, the event was an unqualified success. As one attendee told us, “Somehow, Bombardier continues […]

Even while it was basking in the commendable glow of finally earning full FAA type certification for its Eclipse 500 VLJ on Sept. 30, Eclipse Aviation faced the daunting prospect of transforming itself from a product development company into one that actually has to manufacture that product. The company, saying it used “technologies and business […]