Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first VLJ, opened its first customer training center last month at Double Eagle II Airport (KAEG) near Albuquerque. Eclipse 500 customers will receive all of their classroom and simulator training at the new center, including the type rating course and recurrent training. The 41,500-square-foot, two-story facility, which is adjacent […]
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Cessna expands in Georgia
Cessna Aircraft Co. recently broke ground on what will be its third building in Columbus, Ga. The company will invest up to $24 million to expand aircraft subassembly work at Columbus, including construction of an $11 million facility at Muscogee Technology Park. The 100,000-square-foot building is slated to be completed in August 2008. Cessna Columbus […]
First-time author wins award for book on WWII flyers
First-time author wins awardfor book on World War II flyers The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) has named Jane Gardner Birch recipient of its Fifth Annual Combs Gates Award. The first-time author will be recognized with a $20,000 cash award for her soon-to-be-published book, “They Flew Proud,” inspired by the World War II experiences […]
Cessna pursues purchase of Columbia
Cessna Aircraft Co. has signed a Letter of Intent with Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corp. to acquire selected assets and certain liabilities of the Bend, Ore.-based aircraft manufacturer. Cessna Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton noted that “Columbia’s unique capability in the high-end single-engine piston market makes it a perfect complement to our Next Generation […]
Fossett presumed dead
The search for missing aviator Steve Fossett in the Nevada desert has been scaled back, while the preliminary report from the NTSB lists the accident as a fatality. Fossett disappeared Sept. 3 while flying near Yerington, Nev. He took off in a Bellanca Super Decathlon for what was supposed to be a three-hour flight, but […]
Buzzzzzz
“It was a joy to take the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and redeem the situation.”” – Avemco Insurance Co.’s Jim Lauerman, on the company’s donation of $1.25 million in airplanes inundated with salt water after Hurricane Katrina to the Build A Plane program, which donates planes to schools so kids can learn about aviation. “You […]
California city considers closing one airport to grow another
At the end of World War II the city of Tracy, Calif., picked up two former military airfields as war surplus. When Uncle Sam deeded the properties to the city, which is about 60 miles east of San Francisco, there were restrictions that the airports remain airports in perpetuity. However, city officials are now asking […]
Steve Kurtz dies at 86
William Stephen “Steve” Kurtz, an aviation icon in Minnesota, died Aug. 24. He was 86. Kurtz, whose aviation career spanned 50 years, did most of his flying at Aitkin Municipal Airport/Steve Kurtz Field. “He was a living legend here,” said Ron Sieling, a mechanic who took flying lessons from Kurtz, who noted the airport was […]
Museum celebrates the Golden Age of aviation
The Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, N.C., celebrates its 40th anniversary with a new exhibition: “Wings of Adventure: Smith Reynolds and the Flight of 898 Whiskey,” which examines the Golden Age of aviation. Reynolda House was built in 1917 by Katharine Smith Reynolds and Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco […]