Recent Updates

The Bower family of Gualala, California would like nothing better than to keep their private, public-use airport open – but since they don’t fly themselves, they’re hoping those with some skin in the game will pay the $60,000 necessary for repairs. AVweb’s Russ Niles spoke with Julie Bower about the unique situation in a remote […]

Cirrus Aircraft delivered 276 new aircraft in 2013, nearly a 10 percent increase over 2012, marking its best aircraft shipment performance since 2008. According to its announcement, Cirrus Aircrafts annual market share has grown to 37 percent and the SR22/22T model remains the best-selling four- or five-seat airplane for the 11th year in a row. […]

Bucking the downward trend of general aviation, the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) is reporting record-high membership for the second consecutive year. With roughly 3.2 million skydives made last year in the U.S., it announced that more and more people are taking not only a first leap but continuing to pursue skydiving as a hobby and […]

What appears to be the first of its kind report on the helicopter fleet in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan has been released by Asian Sky Group (ASG), an aviation consulting company based in Hong Kong, with offices throughout China. It notes that the civil helicopter fleet in what it refers to as […]

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) today released the worldwide 2013 year-end aircraft billing and shipment numbers. GAMA Chairman Steve Taylor, President of Boeing Business Jets, reported that for the year, total worldwide general aviation airplane shipments rose 4.3 percent, from 2,164 shipments in 2012 to 2,256 shipments in 2013. Billings for GA airplanes worldwide […]

The Citation Latitude, the first in the line of new midsized business jets that Cessna hopes will challenge Embraer in that market, made its maiden flight on Tuesday and it went well according to Cessna. The aircraft, which was announced a little over two years agoat NBAA 2011, flew for 2.5 hours, climbed to 28,000 […]

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association is holding its annual luncheon today to announce the sales numbers of its members from last year but some companies just couldn’t wait to spread their good news. On Tuesday, Piper jumped the gun with a news release saying its sales and revenue increases were in double digits in 2013, […]

Business jet activity is showing a steady increase in Europe and the biggest jump is being recorded by the smallest aircraft. WingX Advance, a German research and consulting company, says very light jets recorded (PDF) a whopping 23 percent increase in flights in January of 2014 compared to January of 2013. The Cessna Citation Mustang […]

The FAA has formally retired its last DC-3 and the faithfully restored N34 has made its last flight to the Texas Air & Space Museum in Amarillo. The aircraft was acquired by the agency in 1958 and it flew around the U.S. as a navaid inspection platform. It retired from that duty in 1981 (King […]

It has beenreported that Santa Monica’s lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration seeking to clarify ownership of its municipal airport in order to close it was thrown out today by a federal court judge in downtown Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge John L. Walter dismissed the case, ruling that one of the lawsuit’s claims was […]