News

Cessna and the Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC) are in “exploratory” talks regarding possible collaboration on a business jet. The talks reportedly revolve around joint design and production of such an aircraft. Cessna has already developed ties in China, where its Skycatcher LSA is produced by Shenyang Aircraft Corp. The company’s interest in forming […]

The Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) is urging — and guiding — GPS users to actively participate in defending GPS from the potential interference of proposed wireless broadband services. AEA’s concern is a reaction to the efforts of a company called LightSquared, which is seeking to construct a nationwide infrastructure to support wireless broadband on radio […]

The NTSB with the support of EAA has launched a study to evaluate and improve the safety of amateur-built experimental aircraft, beginning with an online survey. Nearly 15 percent of general aviation aircraft (33,000 of 224,000) in the U.S. fall into the amateur-built experimental classification, the NTSB says. And that group exhibits “accident rates greater […]

For a follow-up article on Thielert-powered diesel airplanes, we would like to hear from owners operating these airplanes. Please e-mail us at pbertorelli@avweb.com with contact information, and we’ll get back to you. The results will appear in a future issue of Aviation Consumer. For subscription information, click here.

Most of us do, but it’s not always clear why some pilots are accident-free while others are not. In an effort to learn more about accident-free pilot populations, researcher David Ison is conducting a survey. It’s short, and you can take it by clicking on this link: Click here to take the survey.

Audio recordings released by the FAA last week of Southwest Airlines Flight 812, a Boeing 737 with 118 passengers aboard that suffered rapid decompression in April, detail pilots and controllers working the problem. The aircraft was at 36,000 feet flying out of Phoenix for Sacramento when a 59-inch-long gash opened nine inches wide in the […]

Monday, July 25, opening day at EAA AirVenture, is just around the corner, so flight plans are being finalized, camp sites already are filling up, and aviators from around the world are on their way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. EAA is promising an event overflowing with “spectacular attractions,” including tributes to Bob Hoover and Burt Rutan, […]

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new algorithm that could help to prevent midair collisions between general aviation aircraft, the school announced last week. The new technique, according to lead researcher Maxime Gariel, aims to limit the number of false alarms typically produced by collision-warning systems. “If half the time it’s […]

The European Commission, which acts as the executive branch of the European Union, has invested $6.2 million in myCopter, a project working toward creating a personal air vehicle (PAV) for public transport in crowded cities. MyCopter, headed by Prof. Heinrich Bulthoff of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany, plans to test various […]

AOPA President Craig Fuller says he thinks the anti-GA/Bizav posture in Washington will get worse in coming months but that’s not necessarily all bad. “We have a rallying point,” Fuller told the Wichita Aero Club in a reportedly spirited address that focused on recent remarks by President Obama that appeared to characterize business aviation as […]