News

The general aviation industry, which each year contributes an average of $150 billion to the economy, lost 19,000 jobs over the past year and among the industry’s biggest coming challenges is the implementation of NextGen. Financial incentives may help, says GAMA. The organization Thursday told a House Subcommittee on Aviation that steps necessary for putting […]

Aviation Consumer would like to know. We’re most interested in hearing about successful long-term aircraft partnerships. What works for you? How have you sustained group ownership? And what effect has the current economic downturn had? Contact the editorial staff directly at avconsumer@comcast.net and we’ll respond with our questions. (The results will appear in a future […]

The FAA has tightened up its treatment of pilots convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses. In the latest issue (PDF) of the Federal Air Surgeon’s Medical Bulletin, AMEs are advised that first-time DUI and DWI offenders don’t necessarily escape the agency’s scrutiny as they have in the past. As noted by Aero Legal ServicesUnder the new […]

China intends to design and build its own engines to power the so-called Big Plane, the C919. The AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engine Company was formed last January and it has a model of its SF-A engine on display at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai. The company said it will have a detailed design […]

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan will propose a measure to ban the use of laptop computers and other “personal electronic devices” in airliner cockpits in response to the distraction of two Northwest Airlines pilots last month that they say led to their missing their destination of Minneapolis. Dorgan, chairman of the aviation subcommittee, told the […]

Small general aviation airports around the country have raked in $1.1 billion in federal “earmarks” since 2001, USA Today reported this week. The earmarks are funds requested by lawmakers to support specific projects. USA Today says corporate jets, private pilots, and cargo operators like UPS and FedEx have benefited at the expense of taxpayers and […]

There has been another change at the top of Piper Aircraft. President John Becker, who’d been in the position less than six months, resigned Monday, according to TCPalm.com He will stay on until Dec. 1. Becker was the former vice president of engineering and took over the president’s post when former CEO Jim Bass announced […]

Although customers may not notice much besides lower prices and newer aircraft, there are some who are mourning the demise of Midwest Airlines as it was previously structured. Republic Airlines bought the carrier in July and on Monday the last “legacy flight” of a Midwest Boeing 717, with an original Midwest crew, landed at Milwaukee’s […]

Although Garmin debuted the premium priced GPSMap 696 only a year ago, it’s rolling out yet another new portable navigator model line this week at AOPA Summit in Tampa, Florida. The new product line is called aera, and although its features and capabilities are similar to the popular GPSMap 396/496 series, the aera line will […]

For the first time in its eight-year history, the 2010 annual meeting of Cirrus aircraft owners will not be held at the company’s headquarters in Duluth, Minn. Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association President Curtis Sanford announced to members that they will meet in Dayton, Ohio June 17-20. “We have had seven very successful Migrations in […]