Ownership

Safran Helicopter Engines has opened an assembly line for the Arriel 2E engine at its facility in Grand Prairie, Texas. Previously produced only in France, the engine powers the Airbus H145 and UH-72B Lakota helicopters. The Arriel 2E variant was certified in December 2012 and entered service in August 2014. “Assembling this variant in Texas […]

Rolls-Royce has successfully completed a test flight of its Trent 1000 engine using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The flight, which used the company’s 747 flying test bed aircraft, lasted three hours and 54 minutes. According to Rolls-Royce, initial results from the test “confirm there were no engineering issues.” “We believe in air travel […]

Avfuel Corporation announced the launch of a book and claim program for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at the 2021 NBAA convention on Tuesday. The program is designed to allow customers to buy and receive credit for a full load delivery of SAF regardless of where they are in relation to where the fuel is delivered. […]

Blackhawk Aerospace announced at the 2021 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) that it is working on an engine upgrade program for some Pilatus PC-12s. Once the supplemental type certificate (STC) has been approved, the XP67P Engine+ Upgrade program will replace the stock Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B engine found on legacy PC-12s with […]

GE Aviation announced that the new Catalyst turboprop engine successfully completed its first flight on Thursday. The flight, which took off and landed at Germany’s Berlin Airport, lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and used a Beechcraft King Air Flying Test Bed. According to GE, its 16 Catalyst test engines have accumulated more than 2,600 […]

My next-door hangar neighbor, GlaStar builder and KITPLANES® web manager, Omar Filipovic, had already cast his steely gaze upon the Titan IO-340 hanging from my GlaStar’s nose. A few days before “the event,” I had mechanic friend Will Steenrod pop over to provide another set of eyes. His expertise involves cars and motorcycles—as a factory-trained wrench for […]

Piper Aircraft is partnering with aircraft maintenance training school International AeroTech Academy on a joint program designed to establish an airframe and powerplant mechanic pipeline for Piper’s manufacturing facility in Vero Beach, Florida. The program will allow students to interview with Piper before beginning their training at International AeroTech. Successful interview candidates will receive a […]

United Airlines and Honeywell have announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Alder Fuels, a company developing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production technologies. According to United, Alder plans to produce SAF at scale by “converting abundant biomass, such as forest and crop waste, into sustainable low-carbon, drop-in replacement crude oil that can be used to produce aviation […]

It’s almost a cliché. The buyer was in a hurry to get an airplane for his flight school. He found the model he wanted for a price that fit his budget. It was 1,500 miles away. It had just come out of an annual inspection, so he bought it sight unseen, with no prebuy examination. […]

I didn’t buy this GlaStar intending to commit significant resources to the engine in the first year. Indeed, few of us intend to do that—but it happens. Who does that? But I always knew it was a possibility. My GlaStar’s Lycoming O-320-E3D, originally in a Piper Warrior, had seen service in three airplanes, completed a […]