Ownership

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 […]

When I bought my Debonair from its previous owners, it had the original factory lap belts installed. As someone who had been flying airplanes equipped with three-point harnesses, it felt very exposed to be zooming around in something almost three times as fast as the car I drove to the airport but without even a […]

Rolls-Royce announced the delivery of the 100th Pearl 15 engine to Bombardier in Montreal, Canada, this week. The engine type, which was custom-designed for Bombardier’s Global 5500 and Global 6500 business jets, was developed and manufactured at Rolls-Royce’s facility in Dahlewitz, Germany. As previously reported by AVweb, the Pearl 15 and the Pearl engine family […]

BRP-Rotax has announced that it plans to end production of the two-stroke Rotax 582 UL aircraft engine by end of 2021. According to the company, the decision was made due to the “nearly full transition” of the light and ultralight aircraft markets to four-stroke engines. Rotax says the 582 UL will remain available for as […]

Pratt & Whitney Canada will partner with De Havilland Canada to develop a hybrid-electric propulsion system for regional airliners. The government of Canada has invested about $130 million USD in the project, which will involve De Havilland modifying a legacy Dash-8-100 turboprop regional airliner for the hybrid system. A turbine engine will be mounted in […]

Pratt & Whitney officially opened the doors to its new ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) engineering and development “Center of Excellence” on Tuesday. According to the company, the center will be used as an engineering, development and low-rate production facility dedicated to CMCs for aerospace applications. Pratt & Whitney says that the use of CMCs allows […]

Yamaha is dipping a tentative toe into the aviation engine market in a partnership with a Japanese manufacturer. The recreational and industrial vehicle giant will modify one of its existing small engine designs to fit a RANS S-6 to be adapted by ShinMaywa Industries. “Under this agreement, Yamaha Motor will explore avenues for adapting its […]

The FAA has officially determined that the Aircraft Electronics Association’s (AEA) avionics technician apprenticeship program satisfies regulatory requirements for the issuance of a repairman’s certificate. FAA Aircraft Maintenance Division manager Jackie Black announced the agency’s decision on Wednesday at the 64th annual AEA International Convention & Trade Show in Dallas, Texas. As previously reported by […]

Insert your favorite speed cliché here. One of the main reasons we love airplanes is that they go fast—and the faster the better. We post photos on social media of the GPS when riding a screaming tailwind and we agonize over the numbers when imprisoned in a headwind. And no matter what we’re flying, we’ve […]

GE Aviation and Safran this week jointly launched a development program for what they call an “open fan” airliner engine design. Under the auspices of the two companies’ cooperative CFM International business unit, the RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines) initiative focuses on lowering fuel consumption and carbon emissions, and the team projects greater than […]