News

An FAA spokesman told ABC News the agency is “comfortable” with the way Red Bull operates its restored Grumman Albatross seaplane — but former FAA safety inspector Bill McNease told reporters the airplane is “terribly unsafe, because the wing could fall off at any time.” The ABC story also notes that the airplane operates under […]

Textron, the parent company of Cessna, said on Tuesday that it will further lower 2009 manufacturing production rates at Cessna, and Cessna CEO Jack Pelton confirmed in an e-mail to workers that that means more job cuts. “I’ve never seen any situation as dynamic as this,” Pelton wrote, according to the Wichita Eagle. “Financing continues […]

Aero Friedrichshafen, which opens today and runs through Sunday, is continuing to grow, and attracting a wide range of exhibitors eager to expand in the European market. Overall, 625 exhibitors from 27 countries are setting up at the show, with German companies in the lead, followed by companies from the U.S. and the Czech Republic. […]

Devices that could emit an electromagnetic pulse capable of disabling the avionics on an airplane are fairly simple to build with off-the-shelf components and information from the Internet, according to an article in this week’s New Scientist. Such a device, at least theoretically, could be smuggled aboard a commercial airliner or aimed from the ground […]

Amid all the economic gloom, a bright spot is growing — with the approach of spring, and the imminence of the season-opener shows at Aero Friedrichshafen and Sun ‘n Fun, bargains for pilots are flowing into our inbox every day, and manufacturers are rolling out new products. Socata announced on Wednesday that it will now […]

CubCrafters, of Yakima, Wash., this week introduced the Super Sport Cub LSA, a beefier version of their Sport Cub. Equipped with a new 340-cubic-inch engine developed by CubCrafters and ECI, the airplane can take off in less than 100 feet even at gross weight, and climb out at over 2,100 fpm. The new CC340 four-cylinder […]

The high-end business traveler has different needs in these difficult times and that means there’s opportunity for the aircraft interiors business to meet those needs. “Don’t overreact, innovate,” attendees at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg were urged during the first day of the event. Klaus Brauer, Boeing’s director of passenger satisfaction and revenue, told […]

The world’s largest flight simulator manufacturer says lessons learned in the sim will help it develop real-world applications and it’s investing about $600 million to develop new technologies. CAE says Project Falcon will last five years and, in addition to expanding current modeling and simulation technologies, “increase its capabilities beyond training into other areas of […]

Click for Cirrus Perspective video from EBACE 2008 As expected, Cirrus has announced that the Perspective avionics suite developed by Garmin will be standard panel in the SF50 Vision (we’re not sure when it changed from SJ50) jet. Cirrus launched the proof-of-concept Vision with L-3’s Smart Deck system but there were reports late last year […]

In its annual aviation forecast, released on Tuesday, the FAA said it expects U.S. aircraft operations to decrease almost 6 percent this year compared to 2008 levels but then start to rebound in 2010. Operations overall will then grow at about 1.5 percent per year through 2025, with general aviation growing slightly faster at 1.8 […]