Ownership

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 […]

With major certification rules revisions on the book, Flight Design has decided to reset its certification schedule on the much-watched C4 four-place aircraft, its first venture into the world of certified aircraft. Although Flight Design had initially planned a more aggressive development schedule, revisions to CS23/FAR Part 23 now in the works in the U.S. […]

At Pipistrel, “We are not only thinking short term,” said Tine Tomazic at the CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium on Saturday. “We are thinking, what will it take to revive aviation? I think it’s important to bring fun and affordability back to personal aviation.” Tomazic said it would be great if you could take off and […]

Rick Stenberg, the CEO of Coval Molecular Coatings, said this week at the CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium that his product could potentially provide a super-thin, lightweight, smooth and durable coating for aircraft, minimizing parasite drag and preventing dirt and ice from sticking to the surface. The nano-coating won’t peel or flake, he said, and has […]

At Aero 2013 in Friedrichshafen this week, fuel has been a leading topic of discussion and if there’s any single word to describe the mood on the industry it’s this: confused. In Europe, many airports have three fuels available — autogas, 100LL and Jet A — and a handful are distributing French refiner Total’s 91UL. […]

To realize the potential of electric flight, batteries are key — they must be safe, powerful, affordable, and long-lasting — and several of the speakers at this week’s CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium are working to address these issues. Winfried Wilcke, a researcher in an IBM lab in San Jose, Calif., is studying the potential “Mount […]

Pipistrel has several new all-electric and hybrid products in the works, Tine Tomazic told AVweb at the CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium, in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Friday, and the new powerplants offer substantial savings over conventional models. A new battery pack for the Taurus electric G2 will boost power by 33 percent. Also, a converter […]

Do all of us harbor the fantasy of finding that perfect vintage aircraft stored in a barn somewhere, only awaiting the tender hands of restoration? Well, it’s no fantasy. Those airplanes are out there. In 2004, Ron Tanner found this 1946 Champ in a Massachusetts barn, where it sat unmoved since 1952. He bought it […]

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 […]

General Aviation Manufacturers Association President Pete Bunce said Wednesday at Aero in Friedrichshafen that the international regulatory community has seen the light on revising certification rules and efforts to overhaul Part 23 and its international equivalents are gaining momentum. “When you can go and put modern equipment into an amateur-built aircraft and have it perform […]