News

If Eclipse, Adam Aircraft and Safire don’t hurry up, their efforts to field a light-light jet ahead of the competition could come to fruition too late. According to a news report in the China-based “People’s Daily Online,” a five-seat business aircraft jointly developed by the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and Nanjing Light-type […]

Here’s a blast from the past: Lee Iacocca, who gave us the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler K cars, who was the leader of a company that owned Gulfstream Aerospace for a while and who engineered the federal government’s bailout of the third-largest U.S. auto manufacturer, has joined SmartJets’ advisory board as chairman. Florida-based SmartJets […]

As with many Beech or Raytheon products, there is a thriving aftermarket taking advantage of things customers would like to have in their aircraft but which weren’t included when it left the factory floor. When it comes improving or customizing Beech’s venerable, 40-year-old King Air fleet, Raisbeck Engineering has been one of the most prolific […]

Bell Helicopter announced last month it had reached separate agreements with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) and Japan-based Mitsui Bussan Aerospace Company Ltd. to develop, certify, produce and market the 427i light twin IFR helicopter. Preliminary specifications for the new eight-seat, twin-turbine helicopter include a maximum gross weight of 7000 pounds, a useful load of […]

The computer industry has always wondered about where the next “killer app” — or application — would come from to help stimulate demand for new hardware. Basic word processing was one of the first, followed quickly by Lotus 1-2-3’s number-crunching ability, database managers, the Internet, e-mail and the World Wide Web. Other industries, including aviation, […]

It’s been the late 1970s since the FAA made substantial revisions to operating regulations governing on-demand flights under FAR Part 135. Since then, the on-demand industry has exploded, with more capable aircraft, more operators and a wide range of operations never really contemplated under the 25-year-old revisions. Recognizing this, the FAA and industry started getting […]

For years, the U.S. aviation industry has seen a steady trickle of FAA rule changes move through the regulatory process, designed to bring the agency into “closer harmony” with foreign aviation agencies. The foreign agencies mainly include the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) operated by European Union (EU) member […]

…the next issue of AVweb‘s BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on July 7. AVweb is changing our production schedule during July to avoid potential conflicts with the 2004 edition of EAA’s AirVenture. In August, we’ll get back to our regular schedule. See you at Oshkosh!

The June 9 episode involving a failed transponder aboard a Beech King Air carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) into DCA on a waiver has had a broad impact on general and business aviation in the Washington, D.C., airspace. And it ain’t over yet. Since widely acknowledged communications failures resulted in a panic evacuation of […]

If any TSA-watchers remain unconvinced that aviation security and national politics are hopelessly intertwined, last week’s comments by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson to the Washington Aero Club should set you straight. At that luncheon, Hutchinson told attendees that Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) would not be reopened to general aviation […]