News

Total GA shipments dropped 15.5 percent in 2011 when compared to the same six-month period last year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) said Thursday, but small piston aircraft weren’t the biggest losers in the segment. The first six months of 2011 saw 791 shipments versus 936 shipments for that period during 2010. The biggest […]

Lawmakers announced Thursday a plan to end the partial shutdown of the FAA, and the Senate passed a temporary funding measure Friday. The FAA’s last temporary funding measure expired July 23, reportedly causing the immediate layoff of about 75,000 people either directly employed by, or contracted to work for, the FAA. The shutdown also prevented […]

Officials have ceased all flight and ground operations for the Joint Strike Fighter after the integrated power package (IPP) on a U.S. Air Force variant test aircraft failed, Tuesday, during a ground maintenance run at Edwards Air Force Base. No injuries were reported as a result of the unit’s failure and developers are working to […]

An Oklahoma woman who was eight years old when the man popularly known as D.B. Cooper made his famous 1971 hijacking has come forward to say she is the man’s niece, that he was really L.D. Cooper, and he’s been dead since 1999. D.B. Cooper is the name that has stuck with a man who […]

Congress adjourned on Tuesday night without taking action to fully fund the FAA, leaving 4,000 workers on furlough, and officials were not happy. “It’s a sad day for America,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, according to CNN. “I’ve been around this business a long time. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Babbitt said. “And I […]

The KAI KC-100, a four-seat general aviation aircraft that is the first of its kind to be designed and built in South Korea, is now in flight testing, the company announced recently. The airplane, called the Naraon, aims to be 10 percent more fuel-efficient than others in its class, with a top speed of about […]

Icon this week announced the first flight of its A5 amphibious LSA with the new spin-resistant wing that will go on the production model. The flight took place last Thursday, following “many months … [of] development and fabrication,” according to the company’s Facebook page. The airplane will remain wings-level in a stall, the company said, […]

The latest business aircraft market report from JETNET suggests the long, slow recovery is continuing and could be in full swing by 2012. With prices hitting rock bottom almost across the board, it’s perhaps not surprising that sales have increased by 15.3 percent in the first half of the year. Nevertheless, the speedy depletion of […]

Aviation was spared user fees and changes to the bonus depreciation measures currently in effect but both issues could be back as early as this coming fall. In the lead-up to the dramatic debt ceiling debate there was considerable saber rattling from the Democrats suggesting general aviation was being targeted for increased revenue. Among the […]

Until 2001, air traffic controllers were welcome to ride jump-seat in airline cockpits under a program that aimed to familiarize them with flight-crew procedures. This week, the FAA said it is reviving that program. “This [Flight Deck Training] gives our new generation of air traffic controllers a chance to see and hear what the pilot […]