News

Eclipse Aviation last week announced the first flight of its fifth and final flight-test aircraft, N506EA. The aircraft is the company’s fifth conforming flight-test aircraft and the second of its two beta test jets under the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) development program, which the company says is still on track for certification next […]

GROB is also putting the finishing touches on a new single-engine turboprop, the G 160. First announced at 2003’s Paris Air Show, the all-composite, seven-seat G 160 made is first flight on March 29, 2004, and has progressed through flight testing — including a series of more than 180 spins in 13 different configurations. As […]

Even before GROB’s SPn Utility Jet is certified, the company says it is considering a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) version, for government and military surveillance applications. GROB, which has significant experience designing and building aerodynamically efficient sailplanes and motorgliders, has dubbed the proposed variant of the SPn as the “G 600.” The company considers the G […]

Germany-based GROB Aerospace continues to develop its SPn Utility Jet after its public unveiling at this summer’s Paris Air Show and recently announced the prototype’s first flight, a 66-minute affair in which initial handling tests and system checks were performed. Capt. Gerard Guillaumaud and co-test pilot Tore Reimers commanded the aircraft, which now enters into […]

News reports coming from New Orleans, La., yesterday describing the damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina are painting a grim, bleak picture for one of America’s most dynamic cities and — most importantly — for her residents. Sadly, those same reports indicate the worst of the storm’s horrific damage is not yet known; it may be […]

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Raytheon affiliate Flight Options, LLC, said last week that Raytheon Travel Air has purchased an additional $50 million of common equity of the company. The fractional operator also announced it was expanding its so-called “75/25” program, which allows customers to fly aboard two different types of aircraft in the Flight Options fleet after purchasing only […]

Canada-based Bombardier plans to build a new maintenance center in Moscow, Russia, to support what it calls a growing number of its jets operating in that country, said the Moscow Times. According to the newspaper, Bob Horner, Bombardier vice president for business aircraft sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, on Monday said, “The […]

Signature Flight Support last month announced it and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) have executed a ten-year ground lease allowing the FBO chain to continue operating at the Boston-Logan International Airport until 2016. Signature said that, as part of its obligation, it has begun designing a new 10,000-square-foot terminal facility, which is scheduled for completion […]

Jet Aviation, one of the world’s leading business aviation service companies, this week announced the Permira Funds has agreed to acquire the majority of its parent, Hirschmann-/Jet Aviation Group. Details about the transaction, including its size, were not disclosed. Jet Aviation, based in Zurich, was founded in 1967. Today, it boasts more than 3,500 personnel […]