News

At AirVenture 2015 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, BendixKing announced the KI-300 solid-state electronic attitude indicator. Designed as a retrofit replacement for the company’s mechanical, vacuum-driven KI-256 and KG-258 attitude gyros, the KI-300 has the same form factor as the KI-256/KI-258 gyros—which means it will bolt into the same location as the old iron gyros it replaces—but […]

Lockheed Martin has entered into a “definitive agreement” to acquire Sikorsky Aircraft for $9 billion, the company announced on Monday. “Sikorsky is a natural fit for Lockheed Martin and complements our broad portfolio of world-class aerospace and defense products and technologies,” said Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin. “Together, we’ll offer a strong portfolio of […]

CubCrafters has sold its Type Certificate for the CC18 Top Cub to the Liaoning Cub Aircraft Corporation of China, the company announced Monday at their headquarters in Yakima, Washington. Under the terms of the deal, which was four years in the making, CubCrafters will retain a license to continue manufacturing and marketing the aircraft for […]

Avidyne sees the future of avionics—or at least one version of it—driven by independent developers of apps that can work with panel-mount products through Bluetooth and wireless. And to make that future a reality, it announced at AirVenture Monday a software developer kit for its IFR440/540 panel-mount GPS/FMS units. Both of these products have built-in […]

Assembly has begun on the first prototype of Aero Electric’s Sun Flyer training airplanes, the company announced Monday.Aero said it has contracted with Arion Aircraft of Shelbyville, Tennessee, to build the airplane, which they plan to develop into what may be the first FAA-certified, all-electric aircraft. Arion produces the LS-1 Lightning light sport airplane. “After […]

As the industry continues to push back against the high price of new aircraft, another company has joined the emerging trend in remanufactured aircraft. In conjunction with AOPA, Wichita-based Yingling Aviation announced Monday at AirVenture the Ascend 172, a ground-up remanufacture of the popular Cessna Skyhawk. As are several other shops, Yingling is restoring older […]

 Epic Aircraft has revised its certification schedule for its E1000 single-engine turboprop and now plans first deliveries in the first half of 2016. At a media briefing in advance of AirVenture Oshkosh 2015, spokeswoman Gale Evans said the next milestone will be the first flight of the first conforming flight test aircraft by the […]

A B-52H bomber made its first landing ever at Oshkosh this weekend, squeezing onto Wittman Field’s longest runway and using a parachute for its landing rollout. According to the Oshkosh Northwestern, crews had to remove 6000 feet of runway lights to accommodate the Stratofortress, which has a second set of outboard landing gear 148 feet […]

Boeing has advised operators of its passenger jets to no longer accept bulk shipments of lithium batteries, according to a report in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. The shipments, which are legal under FAA rules, have long raised safety questions and many airlines already decline to carry them. Safety tests conducted by the FAA have shown […]

Both the good and bad potential of unmanned aircraft systems made the news over the weekend, as the first FAA-OK’d drone delivery of medicine took place in Virginia, and in California, five drones buzzing around a wildfire delayed air operations for 20 minutes while the fire spread. The California drones were presumably operated by hobbyists […]