Business & Military

The FAA has backpedaled considerably on its previous sleep apnea policy proposal. The highly controversial plan to require expensive sleep clinic testing based solely on body mass index appears to be dead. As AVweb reported last year, outgoing Federal Air Surgeon Fred Tilton announced, without consultation with aviation groups or the doctors that do flight […]

The acquisition of Beech Aircraft by Textron has brought Cessna and Beech back together for the first time since Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech were principals of Travel Air Company in the 1920s. In a position that didnt even exist six weeks ago, Textrons Senior Vice President of Piston Products, Joe Hepburn, briefed AVwebs Rick […]

With over 200 of its eight-place Airvans in operation worldwide, primarily in the back country, GippsAero came to Sun n Fun ready to target the owner-flown market in the U.S. by offering an up-market, more comfortable interior. AVwebs Rick Durden sat down with Earle Boyter, Director of Business Development for the Americas, for a podcast […]

In a gesture of international cooperation and solidarity, the U.S. Navy announced at Sun n Fun that its famed Blue Angels flight demo team will, on a trial basis, merge with the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds team for the remainder of the 2014 season. The new combined team will be called the Snow Angels […]

A Basler BT-67 turboprop DC-3 conversion is safely tucked in a warm hangar in Calgary, Alberta after spending a year shattered and broken on a glacier in Antarctica. Its owner, Kenn Borek Air, mounted a huge on-site repair effort for the modernized warbird, named Lidia, before flying it back to Calgary in January. The story […]

It’s been a while since we’ve heard reports of strange aircraft flying over the deserts of the Southwest but some photos posted by a couple of skywatchers earlier this month have tongues wagging in the defense world. The photos were snapped on a clear day over Amarillo, Texas, and show a generally triangular planform with […]

The practical applications of multi-copter drones seem to expand every day (to the consternation of air regulators) but it’s doubtful anyone saw “drone dentistry” coming. Eight-year-old Adam Swan, of Dublin, Ireland had a tooth extracted by an unmanned aerial system and he was an enthusiastic participant. “It’s out, it’s out!” Adam yelled as the drone […]

The ever-fertile political minds on the Santa Monica City Council have dreamed up another way to all but close their airport after losing their latest court battle with the FAA. A report commissioned by the city says about half the 4,970-foot runway is not part of the 1948 Instrument of Transfer between the city and […]

Power Flow Systems, maker of tuned exhaust system mods, has apparently had enough of the Internet harping of critics of its product and has fired a high-caliber put up or shut up salvo in reply. In an offer entitled “Shoot-Down at High Noon,” Power Flow has said it is willing to come to any of […]

In a surprise move, Continental Motors Inc., a subsidiary of AVIC International Holding Company of Beijing, China, announced today that in partnership with ASI Innovation of Reims, France that they have acquired the Type Certificate, inventory and manufacturing rights for the F406 twin engine turboprop, more commonly known as the Cessna 406 Caravan II. Developed […]