News

ICON Aircraft CEO Kirk Hawkins says the company is open to changing its controversial buyer’s agreement based on the feedback it’s receiving on the document and “doing what is ultimately right for our owners, the industry and the company.” What exactly that means isn’t clear in the open letter (PDF) sent to aviation media on […]

In a first for the Sun ‘n Fun show, two Red Bull air-race pilots flew a demo today, complete with two of the race’s signature 80-foot-tall inflated pylons, to give the crowds a taste of what the races are like. Pilots Michael Goulian and Kirby Chambliss, both longtime competitors in the global races, flew at […]

SpaceX landed its unmanned rocket on a seaborne platform Friday, the first success after four failed attempts to get the rocket launched and then returned, unscathed, to a floating landing pad. The Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral at 4:43 p.m. with the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, bound for the International Space Station. After […]

As the FAA slowly plies through the process of approving an unleaded replacement for 100LL, Swift says it believes its 100-octane unleaded fuel will have a comparable cost to current avgas. Swift was one of two fuels to emerge from the first phase of the FAA’s Piston Alternative Fuel Initiative testing late last month. A […]

EAA is worried ICON Aircraft’s controversial and “onerous” buyer’s agreement will affect one of its biggest fundraisers. ICON donated the first production A5 Light Sport amphib to EAA’s Young Eagles program in a highly publicized event at the 2015 AirVenture in Oshkosh. EAA decided to auction the aircraft, which has a sticker price of about […]

SocialFlight, the website and app that helps pilots find aviation events and other interesting places to fly to, announced at Sun ‘n Fun on Thursday that a new upgrade to the site, version 5.0, will offer even more free features to users. “We’re adding more social features, making it easy for users to share pictures […]

New flying clubs in the U.S. could get their first airplane for free under a new programfrom AOPA. President Mark Baker said AOPA will provide the winning club with a “Reimagined” Cessna 150 that it has built by Aviat Aircraft. “Flying clubs and Reimagined aircraft are great options to bring down costs and get pilots […]

George Neal, an award-winning test pilot who earned his Canadian private certificate 80 years ago, died this week at 97. He was recognized last June at age 96 by Guinness World Records as the oldest active pilot after flying his DHC-1 Chipmunk from Brampton Airport to Toronto’s Pearson International. Neal began his flying career as […]

Daher officials unveiled their new TBM 930 at Sun ‘n Fun this morning, giving visitors a chance to check out the new cockpit and the latest cabin features. The turboprop is not replacing the 900, but provides another option for buyers, adding the Garmin G3000 touchscreen avionics suite. Nicholas Chabbert, CEO of Socata North America, […]

Lancair debuted a new Lycoming iE2 piston version of their Evolution at Sun ‘n Fun this week, and said the new airplane will cost less than their turbine version and also will burn about half the fuel. Both airplanes are sold as experimentals. The piston Evolution will cost about $875,000, while the turbine kit goes […]