Ownership

When I was in junior high and going to Air Explorer meetings at the Des Moines Airport, I was like every other kid in our group. During breaks from the private pilot ground school, we’d go into the maintenance hangars and out on the ramp to get close to the airplanes that we dreamed of […]

Expanded capabilities in Garmin’s G5 electronic flight instrument system have now been approved by the FAA and EASA, the company announced on Thursday. Owners of specific fixed-wing GA aircraft now can install the G5 in place of an existing directional gyro or horizontal situation indicator, Garmin said. In some panels, when paired with select VHF […]

When the press release on Cessna’s new twin turboprop came pixeling into my inbox Tuesday morning, my first reaction was: a new skydiving airplane! Woo-hoo! This further proves that self-interest easily overpowers rational thought, but in a more sober moment, I realized that in aviation as in everything else, history repeats. Even without a piece […]

Textron will build a new clean-sheet-design large-utility twin turboprop, and have it ready for delivery by 2020, the company announced on Tuesday. The new airplane was developed with launch customer FedEx Express, which has long depended on Cessna Caravans for its delivery fleet. The Cessna SkyCourier 408 will have almost twice the cargo space of […]

The latest model from Airbus, the A350-1000, is now certified by both the FAA and EASA, the company said on Wednesday. The airplane is a stretched version of the A350 XWB airliner. The 1000 features Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, adding more power than earlier versions, as well as main landing gear with six wheels. The […]

While regional airlines seem to be the hardest hit so far by the tightening supply of pilots, business aircraft operators are also feeling the pinch. As with the regionals, deep-pocketed larger airlines are outbidding smaller operators for the pool of experienced jet pilots and there is an inevitable result from that. “It’s really a buyers’ […]

Mooney has delivered the first M20U Ovation Ultra off its production line, the company announced on Thursday. In a ceremony in Kerrville, Texas, company officials turned over the keys to the new owner. The Ultra comes with a wider cabin, a newly designed leather interior, a pilot-side door, bigger windows and the Garmin G1000 NXi […]

The FAA published Airworthiness Directives this week that affect certain Piper Cherokees and turbo Bonanza airplanes. The proposed Piper AD (PDF) was prompted by reports of corrosion found in an area of the main wing spar that’s not easily accessible for inspection. The AD would require installing an inspection access panel in the lower wing […]

Sooner or later, Icon was going to get tested and the test came this week, probably sooner than any of us might have expected. The fatal crash of an Icon A5 owned by retired baseball star Roy Halladay dwelled above the fold on some newscasts and websites. It’s a big deal in the sports world […]

Daylight Saving Time got switched off over the weekend, to the anguish of more than a few of my friends. Not only do they like sunlight of an evening, the return of Standard Time means they can no longer deny the nearly imminent arrival of winter and its challenges to aviating. It also seem to […]