News

Wichita, Kan., has been the hub of the U.S. aircraft manufacturing industry since the 1920s, when the companies that would become Hawker Beechcraft, Cessna, and Boeing all had their roots there. But the current downturn has hit the city hard, with about a quarter of the aviation workforce laid off. According to a story in […]

Figures released Monday by Aviation Research Group U.S. (ARGUS) indicates steady recovery of business aircraft activity. The most recent data compiled by the company shows a 2.7 percent overall increase in business aircraft activity that put the number of operations in September at slightly less than 200,000 and just a few more than during the […]

Eclipse Aerospace has announced it will soon begin modifying existing EA500 very light jets. The company is offering FIKI and AvioNG 1.5 upgrades (performed only together, not separately) at a cost to owners of $149,000. The new company has also invited former Eclipse suppliers to attend an Oct. 27 meeting at Eclipse’s Albuquerque headquarters to […]

An arbitrator has ruled the US Airways pilot whose government-issue gun accidentally went off in flight can have his job back. Jim Langenhahn was fired after the 2008 incident and his union is welcoming the arbitration decision. “The company overreacted,” union spokesman James Ray told CBC news. “Captain Langenhahn has had a distinguished and untarnished […]

The practice of catching a nap while serving on the flight deck is not currently approved by the FAA, but citing supporting evidence, pilot unions and airlines say it may be time for the FAA to embrace the idea. British Airways, Qantas and others have for some years allowed one pilot to sleep during the […]

A deal Lycoming had offered through Aug. 31 has been extended through Dec. 4, 2009, and it means that buyers can purchase a zero-time rebuilt engine for the price of a factory overhaul — but there is a catch. To take advantage of the deal, buyers must return a Lycoming new or rebuilt engine that […]

Production of the Columbia 350 and 400 at a plant in Bend, Ore., failed to prove profitable for Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Co., and Cessna is now attempting — beginning last Tuesday — to profitably build the design as the Corvalis 350 and 400 at plants in Kansas and Mexico. The move, approved in May, will […]

After a lengthy wait and more than a bit of hand-wringing on the part of builders and kit manufacturers, the FAA has finally published Advisory Circular 20-27G, which forms the approval basis for experimental/amateur-built aircraft. In the preamble, the FAA says that “This AC is not mandatory and does not constitute a regulation. This AC […]

Cessna Aircraft Company on Wednesday announced it will offer a “deposit amplifier” program through the end of the year that adds $30,000 to a deposit on a retail order for qualifying new Cessna 182 or Turbo 182 Skylane single-engine piston aircraft. The Cessna 182 and Turbo 182 Skylane is a four-place single-engine high-wing piston aircraft […]

The FAA’s operational test of a new NextGen computer system for air traffic control ran into problems last weekend at Salt Lake Center and had to be shut down — but the problem could have been averted, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, if the FAA had included NATCA in its planning process. […]