Recent Updates

A Chinese conglomerate has bought majority control of Diamond Aircraft’s London, Ontario, factory, the company confirmed today. Wanfeng Aviation, a subsidiary of a larger holding company, completed a deal on Dec. 13 that conveys 60 percent of Diamond Aircraft Canada to Wanfeng. Diamond’s Austria company remains unaffected by the agreement, except some production will be […]

The Navy has grounded its fleet of F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets and G model Growlers after some kind of accident involving a Growler canopy injured a pilot and his or her backseater on Friday. The canopy on the aircraft is jettisoned in an ejection by explosive bolts and small rockets but the Navy hasn’t said […]

Gulfstream’s new G600 flew for the first time Saturday, taking off from Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport at 1:50 p.m. for a flight that lasted almost three hours. First flight was slightly ahead of schedule and kicks off the flight test certification program. Two more flight test aircraft are in final preparation for flight and will […]

A publication for antique car buffs is reporting the Environmental Protection Agency is intent on ending the production of ethanol-free gasoline, known in aviation as Mogas. Hemmings Daily said the Renewable Fuels Standard issued by the EPA a couple of weeks ago sets eliminating ethanol-free gasoline as a goal. It quotes the EPA as saying […]

As I was flipping through the depressing photos of those Cessna Skycatchers being reduced to so much scrap metal, I felt a certain immune response kicking in. I’ve seen this before, so let’s not get too maudlin about it. The time frame was 1995. The Air Force had bought a fleet of 113 airplanes from […]

The FAA on Friday finalized new aircraft certification rules for general aviation that are expected to help the industry bring new designs and technology to market more quickly and cheaply. The new Part 23 rules, first proposed in March, will go into effect in August 2017, changing the FAA’s traditional prescriptive design requirements to performance-based […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found announcements from the Lindbergh Foundation, Hillsboro Aero Academy, Global Aerospace andUniversal Avionics.The Lindbergh Foundation’s Air Shepherd program, developed to protect elephants and rhinos from poaching by using drones, announced its partnership with world leading drone manufacturer DJI. The operations are a collaborated effort with African Parks, […]

Cessna has scrapped the remaining inventory (photo gallery) of its 162-model Skycatcher airplanes, capping the end of the company’s light-sport program. AVweb has learned that the unsold Skycatchers, which the company confirmed in 2014 amounted to about 80 aircraft, were destroyed as shown in photos of an assembled but unfinished Cessna 162 being dropped into […]

An Amazon drone has made the online retailer’s first official customer delivery, dropping popcorn and a Fire TV media player at a British resident’s door. “First-ever #AmazonPrimeAir customer delivery is in the books,” Amazon’s Jeff Bezos tweeted Wednesday. The flight marks the launch of Prime Air, Amazon’s drone-to-door operation that has been in the works […]