Recent Updates

My student and I were nearing the Class C airspace at Palm Beach International airport (KPBI). We asked for clearance. Palm Beach Approach: “Cessna Five Tango Papa, squawk 1454.” This was odd since local squawks always start with 02. But we set what we were given. Approach (about 30 seconds later): “Cessna Five Tango Pop, […]

ADS-B Apocalypse As an owner, it’s hard to justify spending $2-6K on something we DON’t NEED to fly. It’s no benefit since we already have an IFR system that functions without it and a VFR system with the lowest accident rate in history. This is a made up, government mandate where some office bureaucrat made […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Inspector General has announced that it will be conducting an audit of the FAA’s role in authorizing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS/drone) flights within the National Airspace System. The audit will focus on the impact of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system, which provides near […]

Icon Aircraft founder Kirk Hawkins is “stepping back” as CEO of the company and while it appears he’s staying on his new role hasn’t been clearly defined. It’s also not clear who will replace him as CEO although it appears President and COO Thomas Wieners is in charge for now. The company released a statement […]

Bombardier announced on Thursday that it intends to cut approximately 5,000 positions across the organization as part of a plan to “further streamline, lean out and simplify the company.” The staff reductions will take place over the next 12 to 18 months and Bombardier says it expects the move will save the company around $250 […]

Diamond Aircraft announced the successful first flight of a multi-engine hybrid aircraft it developed in partnership with Siemens AG. The aircraft is a reconfigured (formerly single-engine) DA40, which the company says uses a combustion engine to power two independent electric drive systems consisting of a motor, battery and inverter each. The flight took place last […]

Three hundred people from across the European general aviation community attended the 2018 European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Annual Safety Conference in Vienna, Austria, earlier this week. During the two-day event, the agency reviewed progress and set out its future commitments for the “GA Roadmap,” an initiative launched in 2014 that EASA says aims to […]

Bombardier has achieved FAA approval of its Global 7500 jet, the company announced on Wednesday. The long-range business jet, the biggest in Bombardier’s business-jet fleet, can fly up to 7,700 nautical miles, enabling nonstop flights from New York to Hong Kong, or Singapore to San Francisco. The flight deck is equipped with fly-by-wire technology, flight […]

Charles Welden grew up in Alabama watching a seaplane come and go off of Lake Martin and thinking it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. He learned to fly and eventually bought a Cessna 150/150 so he could figure out flying seaplanes himself. In one of those moments that occasionally happens in aviation, he […]

Delaware State University (DSU) has placed an order for 10 new Vulcanair V1.0 aircraft for its aviation department flight training program, according to a joint announcement from the university and Vulcanair’s U.S. distributor, Ameravia. DSU says it also intends to purchase at least one additional V1.0 a year from 2019 to 2027. To support the […]