News

Bombardier has sold its Flexjet fractional business toU.S. private equity firm Directional Aviation Capital in a deal that could reap the Canadian bizjet maker up to $5.2 billion in orders. Bombardier sold Flexjet, which currently operates 79 mostly high-end aircraft, for $185 million. But the deal comes with a firm order for 85 aircraft worth […]

Piper Aircraft has announced the successful completion of a 2100-mile round-trip flight in a Piper Archer flying with 93 octane unleaded automobile gasoline provided by Airworthy AutoGas LLC. The company says the flight was conducted as a demonstration and test of Airworthy’s specially formulated auto gas. It is a continuation of previous joint testing that […]

Virgin Galactic tested its SpaceShipTwo, space-tourist-carrying vehicle Thursday over the Mojave Desert, exceeding Mach 1 and achieving an altitude of nearly 70,000 feet while demonstrating less than rock-solid stability. The vehicle was dropped at 46,000 feet and climbed under rocket power for 20 seconds, reaching 69,000 feet and 1.43 Mach (nearly 1,100 mph) with two […]

Thursday, Pipistrel announced its new Sinus Flex model, an aircraft that the company says offers its pilot “three aircraft in one” with the use of interchangeable wing tips. The company says the “Flex wingtips” can be swapped out in “about five minutes.” The outer five-foot portion of each wing can be replaced with either a […]

After two recent high-profile crashes (UPS and Asiana Airlines Flight 214), both involving fatalities, media reports have questioned the role of automation in the cockpit and in the opinion of former Northwest Captain and current Embry Riddle educator Jack Panosian, those concerns may not be unfounded. Panosian told AVweb Thursday that his observation is that […]

British pilot Ken Wallis took his first solo flight in 1937, flew as a stunt pilot and doubled for Sean Connery in 1967, and passed away Sunday at the age of 97, after “a long and successful life doing what he wanted,” his daughter told BBC.co.uk. Wallis flew Wellington bombers for his country in World […]

A 22-year-old instructor suffered an engine out while flying with his 18-year-old student in a Jabiru J-170 at Victoria Point, Australia, two weeks ago and all ended ruggedly, but well, for the pair in a sequence that was captured by an in-cockpit video recorder. Authorities are investigating the cause of the off-airport landing while onlookers […]

The U.S. government is paying $6,600 a month to keep an old turboprop it leases grounded in Georgia even though it seems doubtful the Gulfstream G-1 dubbed Aero Marti will ever fly for Uncle Sam again. The contract now is a non-fly [agreement], Steve Christopher of Phoenix Air Group told the Washington Post. Thats what […]

In Berlin last week, Airbus took home the GreenTec award in aviation for its work in developing fuel cells for use in commercial aircraft. The annual awards are Europes “most important environment and business awards,” Airbus said in a news release. Fuel cells are one of the most promising ‘step-change’ technologies to make our aircraft […]

For pilots in search of fly-in destinations, three big events are coming up for the fall season, and this year all three will be held in the western part of the U.S. The Reno Air Races are, of course, always held in Nevada, and the show starts next Wednesday, Sept. 11. “Jetman” Yves Rossy will […]