Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group airline conglomerate, blasted The Boeing Co. at the Feb. 6 rollout of a new V Australia Airline 777-300ER – on Boeing’s own turf. Branson said his newest airline, V Australia, would have initiated service around Christmas, rather than later this month, if not for the strike of […]
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Piper lays off 300 more workers
Piper Aircraft Inc. laid off 300 employees on Feb. 10, according to Vero Beach (Fla.) newspaper and television reports. In a prepared statement, Piper confirmed the layoffs, citing the economic downturn as its reason. “The business is planning to close for one week in April and July to avoid building up unnecessary inventory and to […]
Cessna fights back at negative bizjet perception
“Orders for business jets nose-dived after lawmakers pilloried leaders of Detroit’s Big Three auto makers for flying corporate planes to Washington to seek a government bailout. Now, one jet maker is striking back, reported J. Lynn Lunsford in the Feb. 10 edition of The Wall Street Journal. In a campaign to begin Feb. 11, Cessna […]
Consultant says bizav downturn temporary
Brian Foley Associates president Brian Foley foresees a recovery of the business aviation industry in the middle of next year, but not before unavoidable pain, according to a Feb. 10 AINalerts online newsletter report. He believes the current slowdown will end when financial markets stabilize which, he predicted, will be around the middle of next […]
FAA warns against unauthorized use of RVSM airspace
The FAA says it has seen an increase in the unauthorized entry into reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) airspace by operators who are not RVSM qualified. In the examples mentioned by the FAA, pilots utilized a flight plan suffix indicating that they were authorized for RVSM operations, but stating in the flight plan remarks section […]
LoPresti First Saturday to benefit Boy Scouts, feature film “A Pilot’s Story”
LoPresti Aviation will hold its March First Saturday event in the LoPresti hangar on the north ramp of the Vero Beach airport on March 7, starting at 9 am. LoPresti First Saturday is about connecting aviation to modern America, said David LoPresti. The event will feature Wilco Films’ “A Pilot’s Story.” “When I saw the […]
ICON LSA completes Phase I flight testing
Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) manufacturer ICON Aircraft completed Phase I flight testing of its amphibious ICON A5 on Feb. 6. A series of 27 flights were made and data gathered across a wide range of speeds, gross weights, centers of gravity (CG), flap settings, altitudes and sea states, the company has reported. “The A5 prototype […]
1909 Wright Model B look-alike to fly at EAA AirVenture
The Wright brothers’ first production aircraft helped to start the era of air racing 100 years ago. A replica – more accurately, a look-alike – of a Wright B Flyer is scheduled to make its North American public flying debut during EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, to be held this year from July 27 to August […]
EBAA touts bizav as ‘recession buster’
“With the economy the way it is and with key markets as flat as they are, now is the perfect time to own or use business aircraft.” That statement was made on Jan. 12 by Brian Humphries, president of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), in a strongly-worded letter to European news media which, like […]