News

While the rest of the world pedals hard to keep up with ADS-B, Aspen Avionics announced a surprise new product at the Aircraft Electronics Association show in Dallas on Wednesday: a sophisticated angle- of-attack system for its popular Evolution line of PFDs and MFDs. Aspen joins a small number of companies offering AoA systems, but […]

If avionics shops and would-be buyers are still lacking for choices in the ADS-B market, they got several more to pick from on Wednesday at the Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Dallas. Three companies announced a total of six new ADS-B products, bringing to nearly 40 the number of mandate-ready ADS-B solutions of some kind. […]

Flight control checks of the Gulfstream IV that crashed during takeoff last year, killing all aboard, were rarely done, according to flight data from the jet’s most recent trips. The details were part of the accident docket the NTSB released Wednesday as it continues its investigation into the May 31, 2014, crash at Hanscom Field […]

Although NextGen has come under fire from Congress for being a troubled program, the head of the FAA’s ambitious modernization program said Wednesday that the agency is making progress on the system’s individual components, which together comprise a massive $20 billion investment. Speaking before the 58th Aircraft Electronics Association Convention in Dallas in the opening […]

The NTSB issued four safety alerts on Tuesday, highlighting safety issues relevant to general aviation pilots and mechanics. The alerts warn pilots to master mountain flying skills and emergency survival procedures before venturing into the mountains, seek transition training before flying an unfamiliar aircraft, and perform thorough preflight checks on airplanes after maintenance. The mechanics’ […]

All seven people on board were killed when a Cessna 414 light twin crashed into a soybean field near Bloomington, Illinois, at about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday. Conditions were reportedly foggy and rainy at the time. The flight had departed Indianapolis just after the NCAA basketball championship game, and was heading for Central Illinois Regional Airport, […]

With a massive buy of 10,000 of its low-cost RANGR Lite ADS-B products, FreeFlight Systems says the economy of scale is beginning to flatten on ADS-B and buyers waiting for further price breaks might not see them. In an interview for this podcast from the Aircraft Electronics Association Convention in Dallas on Wednesday, FreeFlight president […]

Although there are still hopes that China will be a big market for business aviation, recent events in that country have all but negated gains made in recent years. There’s perhaps no better illustration of that than a strategic shift announced by one of China’s largest bizjet financing companies. Minsheng Financial Leasing Corporation told Business […]

The Pietenpol Aircraft Company has been selling plans to its Air Camper design since 1929, and now builders can also buy kits. The two-seat Air Camper was designed to be built from spruce and plywood, “an affordable airplane that could be built by the common man with materials that could be purchased in a hardware […]

Flight Design has partnered with AeroJones, a Taiwanese company working in China, to build its airplanes in Xiamen, a coastal city, for the Asian market. AeroJones has successfully completed a “full manufacturing evaluation,” Flight Design said in a news release this week. Flight Design CEO Matthias Betsch, Director Christian Wenger and Flight Design USA President […]