Engines

A relative surge in shipments of multi-engine turboprops led a positive first quarter for all GA shipments as billings improved by 31.7 percent over last year’s number, GAMA announced Thursday. Improvements to piston aircraft and jet shipment numbers were modest, posting positive changes of 3.8 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively. Diamond’s DA40 led all models […]

The economic downturn continues to depress used aircraft prices so if you’ve managed to escape significant and sustained financial peril you could be well positioned to pick up a good used aircraft at a very good price. Unfortunately, not all bargains are what they seem. The old phrase “buyer beware” is as true as it’s […]

Honda Aircraft Co. confirmed this week it will delay until late 2014 its certification effort for the HondaJet light business jet to accommodate more testing for the aircraft’s GE Honda Aero engines. The company announced last October that it was aiming for full FAA certification in the first half of 2013 with deliveries to customers […]

An array of experts in a variety of aircraft technologies, from batteries to aerodynamics to photovoltaics, are gathering in Santa Rosa, Calif., for this week’s 7th annual CAFE electric-aircraft symposium. Representatives from NASA, IBM, Pipistrel, MIT, UCLA, and more, are convening to share the results of their latest research and contribute to creating the next […]

The USDA is extending for five years a 2010-2012 program that joins the FAA with partners from the commercial aviation segment to develop biofuels for the aviation industry. Participants include the USDA, the FAA, Boeing and a trade group called Airlines for America. The program will focus on evaluating feedstock and supply chains with the […]

Aviation biofuel experiments took another step forward this weekend when a crew from the New Jersey-based Paramus Flying Club flew their Cessna 182 with an SMA diesel engine from Smithfield, R.I., to Kitty Hawk, N.C., on a blend of 50 percent biofuel and 50 percent Jet A. The biofuel, made by SkyNRG in the Netherlands, […]

Cessna rolled out its first New Citation Sovereign in Wichita this week, sporting new winglets and new Pratt & Whitney PW306D engines. The airplane was announced at the NBAA show in October, and is one of six new Cessna models expected to start deliveries this year. The airplane, which typically seats nine in the cabin, […]

Diamond’s single-engine five-place D-JET prototype S/N 003 arrived Thursday at Oshkosh with blended winglets that change the jet’s look and improve its performance as the jet heads toward advanced performance testing. Diamond’s test program has flown about 70 hours since January. Test pilot Mark Elwess told AVweb the winglets have delivered measurable improvements in cruise,low-speed […]

Fresh off the announcement that Cessna will offer a Skylane with an SMA diesel engine, SMA said Tuesday that Lycoming will support the engine in the field with parts and services. SMA’s CEO Thierry Hurtes said in an interview with AVweb that the chief lesson SMA learned from marketing its original SR305 10 years ago […]

In a letter to members of the Malibu-Mirage Owners and Pilots Association, the group’s president, Jonathan Sisk, said this week that the FAA’s just-made-public 100LL replacement plan deserves a critical eye. Although he says it represents progress, he believes it’s too narrowly focused on just one path. “I also recommend that Clean 100 members not […]