Recent Updates

Although there are still hopes that China will be a big market for business aviation, recent events in that country have all but negated gains made in recent years. There’s perhaps no better illustration of that than a strategic shift announced by one of China’s largest bizjet financing companies. Minsheng Financial Leasing Corporation told Business […]

Flight Design has partnered with AeroJones, a Taiwanese company working in China, to build its airplanes in Xiamen, a coastal city, for the Asian market. AeroJones has successfully completed a “full manufacturing evaluation,” Flight Design said in a news release this week. Flight Design CEO Matthias Betsch, Director Christian Wenger and Flight Design USA President […]

My first experience with an autogyro was not auspicious. I was a newly minted private pilot waiting to take off from what was then Baltimore Airpark, north of Baltimore. Number one for the runway was a Bensen Gyrocopter of the sort I’d seen a million times in Popular Mechanics ads, but never in the flesh. […]

Autogyros are big in Europe — but in the U.S., not so much. The reason for that is primarily regulatory. The U.S. light sport rule doesn’t include rotorcraft. As Paul Bertorelli discovered on this AVweb flight demo, that’s too bad. Gyros are fun and easy to fly, but they do take specific training for the […]

SpaceX is planning its next launch to resupply the International Space Station at 4:33 p.m. EDT on April 13, NASA announced this week. The space station mission for the Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon spacecraft, will be the sixth for SpaceX. The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral and if it starts on schedule, […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news worldwide foundthe first delivery of the Seeker 360-A2,a first upgrade by Gulf Coast Avionics for a Pilatus PC-7, anAndroid release for spidertracks,and Garmin GPS cables from ELITE Simulation.Seeker Aircraft America Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CSI Aviation, hasdeliveredthe first production Seeker 360-A2 surveillance aircraft to its owner in Australia. […]

General aviation aircraft and installed equipment will be exempt from New York’s sales and use tax starting Sept. 1, under reforms passed Wednesday by the state legislature. The measure was approved in the wee hours as part of New York’s state budget and is expected to be signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The tax exemption […]

GAMA has been working for several years now to change the way small aircraft are certified by the FAA, and this week, some progress in Europe has encouraged their effort. On Tuesday, the European Aviation Safety Agency issued a notice that it intends to modernize its CS-23 certification process, which is similar to Part 23 […]

The pilot who intentionally crashed a Germanwings A320 into the French Alps last week had been treated for eye problems that could have ended his flying career, according to The New York Times. Quoting unnamed officials, the newspaper says one theory is that Andreas Lubitz’s vision problems were the psychosomatic result of his mental health […]

The HondaJet has received provisional type certification from the FAA, Honda Aircraft announced Friday. Honda has four HA-420 jets in its test fleet with more than 2500 hours to date and is planning for final type certification in the next few months. The twin-engine business jet, the company’s first commercial aircraft design, is being manufactured […]