Business & Military

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association announced this week that it has created a new “associate membership” category for manufacturers of electric and hybrid propulsion aircraft. The association said it hopes to “better enable the worldwide development, growth, and airworthiness certification of electric and hybrid propulsion technology to benefit the future of general aviation.” GAMA noted […]

The latest version of Lockheed Martin’s Viper jet, the F-16V, completed its first flight last week, the company said in a news release. The aircraft features a new radar system by Northrop Grumman that Lockheed says “will deliver a quantum leap in capability.” The cockpit also has a new center pedestal display and an upgraded […]

People who sell things for a living—airplanes, cars, construction equipment, you name it—know that there’s a fine art to convincing a would-be buyer that a used thing is almost always a better value than a new thing. (Car dealers get this because they typically make more margin on used cars than on new.) Airplane buyers, […]

Walmart is now seeking to take part in drone-driven package delivery, joining other high-profile companies such as Google and Amazon. The big-box retail giant this week applied to the FAA for a commercial waiver for drone test flights. It has already begun indoor testing with unmanned aircraft, which does not require FAA approval, and is […]

U.K. budget carrier easyJet has pledged to double the percentage of prospective female pilot candidates from the current 6 percent to 12 percent over the next two years. In her inaugural address to the British Air Transport Association last week, Carolyn McCall said the airline will actively recruit female pilots. “We will highlight the opportunities […]

As aviation groups lament the slow implementation of NextGen, a nationwide effort has emerged to turn back the clock. Protests were held in eight major cities Saturday as part of “No-Fly Day,” an apparently well-organized effort to get the FAA to revise the routing that the new satellite approaches and departures mandate. The revisions have […]

Redbird Flight Simulations has partnered with Tempus Training Solutions to operate the Redbird Proflight Academy at its Skyport FBO in San Marcos, Texas. Tempus will continue training pilots there under FAA Part 61 and 141. The move allows Redbird to devote more of its resources to research and development, while continuing to use the training […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found a first flight for a customer-built Sonex jet, a new home for the Seaplane Pilots Association, upcoming inductees to EAA’s Halls of Fame, and a partnership between two Canadian aviation organizations. Sonex Aircraft extends its congratulations to Redge Greenberg of Durango, Colorado, who made the first […]

Quicksilver Aircraft, which has sold more than 15,000 ultralight aircraft around the world, will close its California factory and is working to reorganize the business, according to a report at ByDanJohnson.com. After a couple of years of increasing sales, the company saw a dip in 2015. “Tremendous efforts were placed in order to reduce costs […]

Ken Hyde, whose painstaking reproductions of early Wright aircraft are known for their historical accuracy and attention to detail, has put seven of his custom-built aircraft on the market, representing a variety of models that originally flew from 1902 to 1911. “I hope to keep them together,” he told AVweb this week, but will sell […]