Recent Updates

China flew the world’s largest amphibious flying boat Sunday in a move that might intensify tensions in the disputed South China Sea. The AG600 Kunlong is roughly the same size as a Boeing 737 and is powered by four big turboprops in the normal high-wing configuration of an amphib. It used its landing gear for […]

I can recall almost to the day when I first became aware of the great breaking Chinese general aviation wave—or takeover, if you prefer. It was mid-June 2005 and I was riding with Michael Feinig, then Diamond Aircraft’s managing director, at breakneck speed down the autobahn to the company’s factory at Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Diamond […]

The president of Brazil says his government will exercise its veto power to block the transfer of control of Embraer to Boeing. Michel Temer said Friday the company is not for sale but he would welcome investment from Boeing. “All partnerships are welcome. What is not an option is the transference of control,” said Temer. […]

Austrian-based Diamond Aircraft Group has been acquired by the Chinese company that purchased Diamond’s North American operations last year. Almost a year to the day that Wanfeng Aviation Industry Co. Ltd. bought Diamond’s London, Ontario, plant, the Chinese firm bought the Austrian holdings of sole shareholder Christian Dries, who founded Diamond 25 years ago. Wanfeng […]

The Canadian government has suspended the operating certificate of West Wind Airlines after the crash of one of its ATR 42 airliners near a remote Saskatchewan airport that injured 25 people. Transport Canada ordered the Saskatoon-based carrier to cease operations after its inspectors found unspecified deficiencies in the way the business was being run. The […]

Lt. Col. Kevin Walsh, the Thunderbirds operations officer for the 2016 and 2017 show seasons, will command the squadron as Thunderbird No. 1 for the 2018 season. Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, Commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, removed Walsh’s predecessor, Lt. Col. Jason Heard, in November after losing confidence in Heard’s […]

Boeing and Embraer confirmed on Thursday they are “engaged in discussions regarding a potential combination, the basis of which remains under discussion.” The brief statement was released after the Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing was in takeover talks with the Brazilian company. A merger would expand Boeing’s presence in the regional jet market and […]

The development of the CityAirbus VTOL demonstrator is moving forward, Airbus said in a news release this week. The first structural parts are complete and will soon be assembled. The ground-test facility in Germany is also complete, which will enable Airbus engineers to verify the electric propulsion system. The facility can test the system’s components, […]

You’d think a flight instructor would limit stupidity. You’d be wrong, as many accidents involved CFIs reacting too slowly to student silliness. Then there’s the Kentucky instructor whose student wouldn’t do anything dumb, so he intervened, setting the Cessna 172’s fuel selector to OFF within, he thought, gliding distance of the runway. Only the instructor […]

The new federal tax regulations that will take effect on Jan. 1 are mainly good news for aviation, according to AOPA and NBAA. The legislation passed this week will “directly lead to growth for the general aviation industry,” said NBAA President Ed Bolen. For example, the new rules allow for “immediate expensing,” Bolen said, which […]