Recent Updates

With nearly five months of certification behind it and production ramping up, Honda announced at Aero Wednesday that is has delivered the first HA-420 HondaJet to Europe. Although the airplane has appeared previously at Aero in mockup form, this week’s announcement marked the first time the actual aircraft has appeared at Aero. The airplane will […]

Piper Aircraft announced several price rollbacks and a large trainer order from the University of North Dakota on the opening days of theAero exposition in Friedrichshafen, Germany, on Wednesday morning. Piper CEO Simon Caldecott told the press that some 100 aircraft have been ordered by UND, one of the largest single trainer orders during the […]

As the Aero shows opens today in Friedrichshafen, Germany, organizers are looking for a smaller show—down about 40 exhibitors—but a busy one. AVweb’s preview of the show schedule Tuesday revealed a full day of conferences and announcements, including new product information from Continental Motors, Daher, Jeppesen and Siemens. Aero’s Roland Bosch told AVweb Tuesday that […]

A 1997 Citation X owned by Donald Trump has been flying with an expired FAA registration since Jan. 31, according to a story in today’s New York Times. Flying with a lapsed registration — which costs $5 for three years — could be a problem in the case of an accident, and also can subject […]

An Air Force investigation (PDF) has determined that intentionally jammed controls led to the loss of a C-130J and the deaths of 14 people in Afghanistan in October. The report says a pilot put the hard-shell case for a set of night vision goggles in front of the yoke to get the elevators up and […]

The Senate today approved a new FAA funding bill that is widely supported by GA advocates. NBAA President Ed Bolen said the new bill provides “a smart, targeted approach to funding the FAA’s efforts to modernize what is already the world’s safest air-traffic control system.” GAMA President Pete Bunce also said he was “extremely pleased” […]

One reason Aero is my favorite aviation show is that it’s more changeable than either Sun ‘n Fun or AirVenture. Those shows tend to put the same vendors in the same place every year, often with the same booth counters and display items. Given the effort and expense of mounting a show, I can’t really […]

The Martin Mars water bomber, the largest airplane of its kind and the last in its line, will make its first-ever appearance at EAA AirVenture in July, EAA has announced. The bomber will be based at the EAA Seaplane Base, on Lake Winnebago. With a wingspan of about 200 feet, and measuring 120 feet nose […]

The captain of aBritish AirwaysAirbus A320 flying into London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon told authorities he believed the front of the airplane was hit by a drone on approach. The airplane landed safely and it was examined carefully by engineers. It hasn’t been reported what damage they found, if any, but they cleared the […]

Environmental groups have filed suit (PDF) against the EPA to try and force the agency to set emissions limits for all aircraft. The suit was filed by Earthjustice (on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity) and Friends of the Earth on Thursday, saying the EPA has “delayed unreasonably” coming up with rules for aircraft […]