Dornier Seaplane exhibited its all-composite Seastar amphibian at the Canadian Business Aviation Association show in Montreal in late May, showing off fresh paint and an upgraded interior. The Seastar program “is gaining momentum,” according to Joe Walker, CEO of the Punta Gorda, Fla.-based company, which has taken orders for 25 of the twin-turboprop...
moreCanada’s Viking Air has sold 10 of its Twin Otter Series 400 turboprops to Global Aerospace Logistics of Abu Dhabi. The agreement, which represents the largest order to date, calls for delivery of six landplane-configured DHC-6 Series 400s and four Guardian Twin Otter floatplanes, slated for use throughout the United Arab Emirates in both government and...
moreThe HB-SIA solar-powered aircraft, the first prototype of the Solar Impulse project, is to be unveiled next week on June 26 at Dübendorf air base, near Zurich, Switzerland. Those who attend will discover some design changes since the last images were released, company CEO André Borschberg told AIN, adding that a first flight is planned for later this...
moreThe Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) said last week that they will be collaborating on issues and programs that protect, support and foster general aviation. This effort stems from a meeting last Wednesday between EAA chairman and president Tom Poberezny and AOPA president and CEO Craig Fuller, as...
moreThe FAA is hailing three South Florida air traffic controllers for assisting Doug White, a fixed-wing single-engine-rated private pilot and passenger, in safely landing King Air B200 N559DW on April 12 after pilot Joe Cabuk Jr. became incapacitated minutes after takeoff from Marco Island (Fla.) Executive Airport. After Cabuk became unconscious, a Miami...
moreLong-time AOPA member, pilot and actor Harrison Ford has teamed with AOPA to promote general aviation. Dubbed “General Aviation Serves America,” the campaign will showcase Ford and “other real people” to help explain what “general aviation means to their communities and to their businesses.” AOPA has committed an initial $1.5 million to the campaign, which...
moreThe in-development geared turbofan (GTF) has been attracting most of the headlines at engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney lately, and it does indeed promise to make a large leap in powerplant efficiency and environmental friendliness when it enters airline service in 2013. The GTF achieves its gains in large part from the integral gearbox that allows...
moreWhile he believes the recession will end soon, Piper Aircraft president and CEO James Bass said the effect of the U.S. government’s “assault” on general aviation will linger much longer. His remarks, made Tuesday at the Sun ’n’ Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Fla., were a biting criticism of government officials and media outlets that are spreading the off-base...
moreTwenty-six-year-old New Jersey businessman Jared Isaacman, along with copilot Doug Demko, yesterday shattered the world record for an eastbound global circumnavigation in a light business jet, with a time of 61 hours, 51 minutes and 15 seconds, lopping 21 hours off the previous record set in 1991 by a UK pilot in a Cessna Citation II. Last year, Isaacman...
moreAlthough the dismal economy cast a pall over this year’s Women in Aviation conference–the association’s 20th–there were plenty of networking opportunities available to attendees. As it has in the past, the conference brought its members–who hail from all sectors of aviation (commercial, corporate, private and military)–together to share their passion for...
moreIn an effort to cut down on the more than 2,000 false distress signals it receives each year from emergency locator transmitters (ELT) and emergency position indicating radio beacons, the Civil Air Patrol has launched its “Don’t Trash the Beacon” public awareness campaign. “The false-alarm rate is between 90- and 95-percent now,” said John Demarais, CAP’s...
moreDecades after the last Grumman Goose rolled off the famed manufacturer’s assembly line, the G-21 Goose is nearly ready to come back to life. A company called Antilles Seaplanes, headquartered in Gibsonville, N.C., is resurrecting the Goose and will sell the amphibian as newly manufactured airframes powered by 680-shp (flat-rated) Pratt & Whitney Canada...
moreEmbraer officially became the third manufacturer to achieve entry-into-service of a very light jet, having delivered two Phenom 100s by the end of last year following Brazilian ANAC and FAA certification in early December. EASA certification is expected early this year. Embraer had planned to deliver up to 15 Phenom 100s last year, but delays stemming...
moreMaking do with less is still a whole lot better than the alternatives
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