Ownership

Does general aviation need new piston engines? Well, sure, it always does, but thats not the same as saying it can sustain new engine designs. Nor does it stop companies from telling the R&D department to push around some ideas. In business in general, we call this progress, while in general aviation, its known as […]

GE is researching whether cold-spray technology can be deployed to build or repair aircraft engine parts and possibly extend the lifespan of those parts (and others) by years or, more optimistically, decades. GE believes that engine parts made by cold-spray processes, also known as 3D painting, will be less expensive to produce and will be […]

Composite props may be the latest shiny object to make airplanes go, but most of them have wood cores, and the basic wooden prop is enjoying somewhat of a resurgence. AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli took a tour of Sensenich’s prop factory in Plant City, Florida to see how these products are made. view on YouTube

President Obama has signed into law the Small Airplane Revitalization Act, a measure that is designed to streamline certification of new aircraft and simplify the modification of existing aircraft. The new law directs the FAA to change Part 23 by the end of 2015 to create “twice the safety at half the cost” in terms […]

For aircraft, increases in aerodynamic efficiency often translate to increases in economic efficiency, and NASAs bug team has recently concluded tests on eight different coatings designed to reduce bug accumulation for that very purpose. The team flew NASA Langleys HU-25C Falcon jet through low-altitude flight this past summer in Virginia. The flights included multiple departures […]

In the admittedly dwindling universe of aircraft owners, there is some small percentage of people who are not ethically or morally qualified to own airplanes. Im probably deluding myself by saying it is a tiny fraction of owners, but it may very well be growing. Im referring to the deadbeats, the hustlers, the malcontents and […]

DiamondShare, a cost-sharing program for new Diamond DA40 aircraft, isnt designed to be a cheaper way to fly. Instead, it’s intended to make the high cost of new aircraft ownership more compelling, especially for owners that dont plan to fly more than 100 hours per year. For the non-owner, its a way to gain access […]

Weve all seen them. Sad old derelict ramp dwellers with sun-faded paint and flat tires, awaiting rescue by the aviation equivalent of the Good Samartan. This months refurb aircraft is one of those. It comes from Steve Wilbers, shop supervisor at Jefferson City Flying Service in Jefferson City, Missouri. Attached are before and after pictures […]

A blogger in the San Francisco Bay area who published patent drawings on Wednesday that show designs for a battery-powered “personal aircraft” with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, has now updated the story with a photo. The patents were filed by Zee.Aero, a somewhat mysterious company based in Mountain View. Caleb Garling, writing for the […]

A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a simple technology that could help to prevent icing on aircraft wings, the university announced on Wednesday. The team experimented with ridged surfaces to see if they could reduce the time it takes for a water droplet to hit a surface and then recoil. […]