Ownership

When Continental acquired ECI in 2015, it also acquired the budding Titan engine line. The company has moved production of that engine to its Fairhope, Alabama facility and has capacity to ramp up production. You can find out more about the Titan engines — which Continental hopes to certify — at Sun ‘n Fun this […]

AOPA says the FAA is about to approve more liberalization of aircraft certification by relaxing some requirements for GA aircraft. In a story on its website, AOPA says the agency is ready to adopt less stringent standards for software, electromagnetic protection and lightning strike survival for equipment in light aircraft. Current standards apply to all […]

Americans love competition, or say that they do. A fundamental assumption of American business is that capital will find the most efficient way to reproduce itself and companies that fail deserve to fail. Plain and simple, it’s economic Darwinism. It’s a universal principle until, that is, it’s your own ox getting gored or you’re subjected […]

For a little less money (sometimes), the Aeronca is a better flier, roomier, faster and easier to land. But it will always lack the Cub’s cachet. While pilots grow old waiting for the FAA to reform the Third Class medical, light sport flying remains the last refuge to stay in the air (Editor’s note:this article […]

Garmin has received Supplemental Type Certificate approval for use of the G5 flight instrument in the heading indicator position for over 600 aircraft types when installed with a Garmin magnetometer. “Furthering our commitment to bring affordable, safety-enhancing and certified solutions to general aviation, the G5 electronic flight instrument that was initially developed for experimental aircraft […]

Mooney’s two new models, the M20U Ovation Ultra and the M20V Acclaim Ultra, now are FAA-certified and ready to start deliveries, the company announced this week. Both airplanes come with an all-new interior and a Garmin G1000 NXi panel. The once all-metal airplane now has a composite-wrapped cabin, which the company says produces a quieter […]

Almost as a condition of entry, people who voluntarily engage in general aviation at any level have to be slightly delusional. It takes a hearty constitution to look at gracefully declining sales numbers and eroding flight activity and think, sure, I’ll just keep on going here. I mean, what the hell? In that context, yesterday’s […]

Continental Motors will build a new plant in Mobile, Alabama, the company announced on Monday. The huge new facility, with 225,000 square feet of space, will house both corporate offices and manufacturing space, replacing 11 buildings currently in use across 44 acres at the Mobile Aeroplex. “The current operation being spread throughout multiple buildings, drives […]

For 2017, Cirrus has re-engined its entry-level SR20 with a 215-HP four-cylinder Lycoming IO-390, which replaces the 200-HP six-cylinder Continental IO-360 used on the SR20 for years. To find out what drove the company’s decision to swap engines, and to see how the aircraft performs, Aviation Consumer Editor Larry Anglisano flew the G6 SR20 and […]

Part of my job description is to hang around people who sell airplanes, or try to. In Cessna’s salad days, the company clearly knew how to sell and it helped that the market was ready to absorb thousands of new airframes. Now, not so much. The definition of a circular argument is to ask whether […]