Latest from Mark Huber
Rotorcraft
MD Helicopter moves to renegotiate land leases
MD Helicopters has requested a concessionary renegotiation of the land leases for its main plant and offices at Falcon Field in Mesa, Ariz.
Kingfisher’s ties could give Epic boost from Airbus
Flush with a $200 million cash infusion from Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya and a $170 million order book, turboprop and VLJ maker Epic Aircraft announced
Rotorcraft
FAA awards production certificate for EC 145, UH-72A
American Eurocopter has received an FAA aircraft production certificate to manufacture its U.S.
Investors buying Sino Swearingen
New investors are acquiring control of Sino Swearingen Aircraft and finalizing plans to resume production of the SJ30-2 business twinjet.
Aircraft
Honda says it will ramp up production to 100 jets a year
Honda Aircraft plans to ramp up to an annual build rate of 100 HondaJets within two years of starting its production line, company CEO Michimasa Fujino ann
Aircraft
Embraer tests the waters with two new concept jets
Embraer is testing the market for two new concept jets.
Spectrum set to unveil S-40 midsize mockup
Spectrum Aeronautical (Booth No.
Goldman Sachs back as major bizav player
Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment firm, has a thing for business aviation, according to Sanjeev Mehra, the firm’s managing director.
New simulators, online courses change face of flight training
New technology and tactics are changing flight training against the backdrop of a declining pilot base, fewer student pilot starts and a shortage of flight
FAA funding battle heats up as Congress returns to D.C.
Congress has begun hashing out the final act in the most recent FAA funding battle.
Aircraft
Spectrum puts midsize S-40 on developmental fast track
The decision by Spectrum Aeronautical to flip-flop the development schedule for its airplanes by certifying the all-carbon-fiber midsize S-40 Freedom befor
Cessna’s Cabin ‘Skunkworks’
About a mile from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, inside a nondescript building that looks just like any other in this part of town, a small group of worker
Cabin Interior and Electronics
PATS ready to begin completion of first Lineage 1000
The first Embraer Lineage 1000–the executive version of the Brazilian manufacturer’s E-190 regional airliner–has an appointment next month at a U.S.
Aircraft
Program Update: BA609
Bell and Agusta continue their development of the BA609 civil tiltrotor, a joint effort that has been ongoing for more than a decade.
Charter & Fractional
Part 135 certificate in hand, DayJet set to launch service
Per-seat, on-demand carrier DayJet on September 5 received its Part 135 air charter certificate to operate its fleet of 12 Eclipse 500 very light jet
Rotorcraft
Flight tests continue as second Bell 429 joins certification fleet
The second Bell 429 took to the skies on August 31, five months after the first test ship flew last winter.
Interview: Cindy Halsey
Cessna has been a dominant force in business jet manufacturing for more than three decades, rolling out new Citation models at a pace that has kept buyers
Lakota Gets FAA Certificate, Army Full-Rate Production Approval
American Eurocopter has received an FAA aircraft production certificate to manufacture its U.S.
Accidents
Midair sparks debate about current ENG procedures
The July 27 fatal midair of two television news helicopters over Phoenix has prompted the industry and federal regulators to re-examine the sector’s operat
Rotorcraft
Development hurdles ahead for future presidential helicopter
The AgustaWestland/Bell/Lockheed Martin VH-71 made its first flight July 3 in Yeovil, UK.
Rotorcraft
Eurocopter Upgrades German Sites
Eurocopter this summer unveiled two modernized facilities at Donauwörth, its main German industrial site.
Rotorcraft
AgustaWestland Delivers to China
AgustaWestland has delivered two helicopters–one AW109 Power light twin and one AW139 medium twin–to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Aircraft
Cirrus single-engine jet could fly in two years
A “verification prototype” of Cirrus’s recently unveiled “personal jet” could fly within two or three years, according to company officials.C
Rotorcraft
Piasecki compound X-49 makes first flight
Retrofit technology that could turn the Pentagon’s fleet of Black Hawks and other helicopters into 200-knot, high-altitude speedsters, and later be applied
Rotorcraft
On second try, helo pilots complete pole-to-pole flight
Pilots Jennifer Murray, 66, and Colin Bodill, 56, completed their record-setting VFR pole-to-pole round-trip flight from Fort Worth on May 23 in a Bell 407
Rotorcraft
FBI seizes records from helo air ambulance operator
On May 23 more than 50 FBI agents and employees of the FAA raided the headquarters of Air Evac Lifeteam in West Plains, Mo.
Training and Workforce
CAE SimuFlite Relocates S-76 Simulator to New Jersey
CAE SimuFlite has relocated its Sikorsky S-76 simulator to its new Northeast facility, near Morristown Airport, N.J., from its headquarters at Dallas/Fort
Training and Workforce
FlightSafety’s ‘Mustang 101’
Fred Furth has been flying since 1959 and has more than 8,000 hours in jets.
Accidents
Runaway trim focus of Citation crash investigation
A pilot’s brief distress call concerning “trim runaway” remains (at press time) the sole clue in the fatal crash of a 1981 Cessna Citation II into Lake Mic
USAIG ‘safety bucks’ tops $4 million
The “Safety Bucks” program from insurer USAIG (United States Aircraft Insurance Group) has contributed more than $4.3 million over the last nine years to d
