News

The aviation community has had a tough time this fall getting Congress to focus on the issue of FAA reauthorization, but patience — and time — are running out. The FAA budget was due to expire this week, on Sept. 30, but has now been extended to Dec. 31. Aviation advocacy groups are pressuring the […]

Click for a larger image of the flight path, via Flightaware A Mooney crashed Wednesday morning near Muncie, Ind., after the pilot, who was alone on board, became disoriented and then failed to respond to ATC. Two F-16s from the Indiana National Guard intercepted the airplane, which was flying erratically, [see FlightAware tracklog] and provided […]

Two senators this week said they have formed a General Aviation Caucus and invited other senators to join them (PDF) to ensure support for pilots, aircraft owners, and the aviation industry in the U.S. “General aviation has a presence in every state, and plays a significant role in our economy,” said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, […]

For the last five years, Harrison Ford has acted as chairman of the EAA’s Young Eagles program, but this week he ended his term and handed over the job to Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, known for their expert handling of an emergency landing in the Hudson River in January. The […]

The widow of one of the passengers who died when the GOL Boeing 737 he was on collided with an Embraer Legacy and crashed in Brazil three years ago has put a price on the damage allegedly done to her country’s honor by an American journalist. As we reported last year, Rosane Gutjhar launched the […]

The first SJ30 light business jet to be delivered by Emivest, the company that resulted from the takeover of Sino Swearingen by Emirates Investment and Development Corp., was handed over to its new owner Sept. 23. The Emivest jet is serial number 8 and the third SJ30 to enter service. The well-appointed aircraft went to […]

Click through for a guided tour of the Gulfstream G650, from EBACE 2008 Gulfstream rolled out the first example of its ultra-large G650 Tuesday in front of about 7,000 people at its plant in Savannah, Ga., and announced the program is on schedule with first deliveries planned for 2012. The aircraft has been spotted several […]

The NTSB on Tuesday released its annual compilation of transportation fatalities, and reported that in 2008 aviation-related deaths increased slightly to 572, from 550 in 2007. Nearly 87 percent of those fatalities occurred in general aviation accidents (495), which was almost unchanged from the previous year (496). The other deaths occurred in air taxi operations […]

General aviation airports and private aircraft have taken a beating in the press lately (click here if you missed it), but the industry is not taking it without a fight. This week, the Alliance for Aviation Across America unveiled a new tool for the defense of GA — an online compilation of data from each […]

Cessna released its new Cessna Sport/Private Pilot Course this week to its Pilot Center network, in anticipation of starting deliveries of the Skycatcher light sport aircraft later this year. “The new training program is a key component of Cessna’s effort to make flying more accessible and to re-energize pilot training,” said Tom Aniello, Cessna’s vice […]