News

Santa Monica Airport will close in 2028 and the runway will almost certainly be shortened to 3,500 feet. The FAA announced Saturday that it had reached an agreement to end decades of legal wrangling over the airport, which is surrounded by urban development and has been targeted for closure by local politicians since the 1980s, […]

Swift Fuels says it’s pushing hard to market its 94UL unleaded aviation fuel to more airports and that the infrastructure is in place to refine and distribute it virtually anywhere in the U.S. At this week’s Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Swift’s Chris D’Acosta told AVweb that UL94 can be burned by about 65 percent […]

What a difference a year makes. At last year’s Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, the drone display was imprisoned in a large hangar and the demos were contained inside a netted area. This year in Sebring, for the first time, the show, in conjunction with a drone racing league, is conducting open air racing of […]

The FAA has clarified the upcoming ADS-B Out rules regarding aircraft without electrical systems, elaborating on the current FARs regarding transponders. The ADS-B rule, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020, to mandate position-reporting equipment in airspace where transponders are now required, will not apply to “aircraft originally certificated without an electrical system but which […]

At the Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring this week, we spoke with several manufacturers of light sport aircraft (LSAs) about their expectations for the newly announced FAA BasicMed rule. Behind some enthusiasm for any relaxation on restrictions to flying, some commentators have expressed concern that pilots who were buying LSAs so they could benefit from […]

Authorities are investigating Thursday’s fatal crash of a twin-engine seaplane in Perth, Australia. The crash into a river in front of thousands of spectators gathered for an Australia Day event was captured from multiple viewpoints on witness videos. The pilot and passenger on board the Grumman G-73 Mallard were killed about 5 p.m. when the […]

Belite Aircraft, as the name implies, for many years has focused its energy on producing extremely light aircraft designs. At the 2017 Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring this week, company president James Wiebe announced a new model constructed of a material common in the aerospace industry but little used in light general aviation: aluminum honeycomb. […]

With the market choked with certified ADS-B to meet the 2020 mandate, another company is about to enter the fray with a low-cost option. At the 2017 Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring opening this week, 2020 Avionics was showing a new portable ADS-B In product with a companion GPS selling at the show for under […]

The National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton appears to be in financial trouble and a local congressman said this week he’s investigating complaints of mismanagement. U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, released his Wednesday letter to NAHF board chairman William R. Harris Jr. stating his office has “received complaints of financial mismanagement and misappropriation of […]

The contenders in the international Lunar XPrize have been narrowed down to five finalist teams who will attempt to be the first to launch and land a robot on the moon by the end of the year. XPrize.org, which is offering a grand prize of $20 million sponsored by Google, announced this week that each […]