News

NetJets Aviation Inc., the Berkshire Hathaway owned and largest fractional jet ownership operator in the U.S., has agreed with its pilots union on voluntary measures to avoid layoffs. Since December, declines in the use of fractional jets have ranged up to 50 percent in monthly year-over-year figures. NetJets specifically had to contend with that as […]

A Cessna 182 crashed Friday after departing Thun Field, Wash., when the aircraft reportedly lost power and the pilot tried to turn back for the runway — a move that often puts pilots in a world of … excrement. Things were no different in this case, but as fate would have it, that world may […]

Civil fines and a possible court injunction that would prevent future acquisition of a pilot certificate may be sought for 26-year-old Edwin Stoltenberg, who crashed his father’s Super Cub on a sand bar in Alaska last weekend. Stoltenberg may have been at the controls, but he is not a certificated pilot, nor does he hold […]

The new owner of Piper Aircraft Inc., is Imprimis, “a corporate finance and investment management firm that operates from its offices in Bangkok, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam,” according to an Imprimis press release. Production and product development facilities will remain in Vero Beach, Fla., according to the new owners. Imprimis stated in a Friday press […]

The Obama administration Thursday announced that it will create a mediation team to immediately address the FAA/NATCA contract dispute and NATCA President Patrick Forrey was quick to respond with praise. Controllers have been dissatisfied with work conditions since contract negotiations broke down and the FAA imposed non-negotiated work rules on the union nearly three years […]

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) are the subject of Bill S614 that would recognize, with the award of a Congressional Gold Medal, their service during World War II, and they are asking that supporting voices speak up and be heard. The intent of the WASP program was to free up male combat pilots from […]

About 60 percent of the required certification work is in the hands of the FAA and the aircraft itself is in the paint shop, but Boeing is setting expectations for first flight of the 787 Dreamliner, saying it anticipates liftoff prior to July 1. First test flights had once been expected in late 2007 with […]

HondaJet conforming aircraft will probably not fly before January 2010 with customer deliveries now projected for fourth quarter 2011 — a year later than originally hoped. Honda Aircraft Company Thursday released the news with the explanation that “ongoing global aerospace industry business challenges” have delayed the arrival of critical components. Honda is working with “leading […]

Well, Bloomberg got most of its predictions about the state of business aviation right in its pre-first quarter analysis predicting a bloodbath in their numbers. But it included Gulfstream’s parent General Dynamics in the doom and gloom and the iconic planemaker actually did quite well. In fact, Gulfstream’s margins dipped only slightly from 18.5 percent […]

An FAA memo (PDF) floating around the Internet Wednesday suggests that if the FAA didn’t originate the secrecy surrounding Monday’s White House photo op over New York, it certainly went along with it. The memo-authored by James J. Johnston of the agency’s security operations branch-clearly indicates the FAA was notified well ahead of the planned […]