The first Eclipse 500 intended as a certification flight test aircraft rolled out of the factory Dec. 11. Its engines are the Pratt & Whitney Canada 610F turbofans that will power the Albuquerque, N.M.-based company’s production airplanes. As this issue was going to press, Eclipse employees would say only that the plane’s first flight would […]
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Evergreen Field sale in progress
The New Year may bring the end of Evergreen Field (59S), a family owned public use airport in Vancouver, Wash. Cheryl Olson, the owner of the airport, confirmed that the property is in the process of being sold. “There is no closing date,” Olson said. “We have been talking to a development company and they […]
NASCAR races to the battefield
For the past several years, NASCAR race cars have had their windshields covered with thin laminate films that can be removed easily during a race for increased visibility. The same technology will soon be applied to U.S. Army Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters flying in Iraq and Afghanistan. “”A lot of technology comes from the armed […]
Chicago claims Meigs was ‘abandoned’
Chicago had no choice but to use funds from O’Hare International and Midway International airports to clean up the “abandoned” Meigs Field. So say city attorneys in a 40-page response to an FAA investigation that Chicago improperly used $1.5 million in airport development funds earmarked for O’Hare and Midway to destroy Meigs Field. If the […]
Discovery Wings deployed, becomes the Military Channel
Discovery Wings Channel, a favorite among aviation enthusiasts since its debut in July 1998, has signed up for active duty. The cable channel becomes the Military Channel Jan. 10. The revamped channel will feature “”a dramatically broadened programming mission,”” according to channel executives. New programming is designed to take viewers “”behind the lines”” to tell […]
Ring one up for the ‘Liberty Belle’
The restored B-17G Flying Fortress “Liberty Belle” made her first flight in more than 14 years Dec. 8. Owner Don Brooks and the restoration crew at Tom Reilly’s Flying Tigers Warbird Restoration Museum in Kissimmee, Fla., had hoped to make the flight Dec. 7 — Pearl Harbor Day — but electrical problems prevented that. The […]
Want to own a piece of the Concorde?
Just a year ago, a Hungarian businessman paid £320,000 for a Concorde nosecone at a Bonhams Auction. Now the only remaining “”spare”” flown nosecone is up for sale on eBay with a reserve of just £24,500 pounds — less than 10% of last year’s winning price. The eBay nosecone is believed to be the last […]
Navajo Nation teams with Utilicraft to bring new aircraft to market
The Navajo Nation has partnered with Utilicraft Aerospace Industries Inc., to produce a newly-designed, specialized feeder freight aircraft called the FF-1080-300. The arrangement calls for establishing three aircraft sub-assembly plants on the Navajo Nation that will create hundreds of jobs and provide millions of dollars to the Navajo economy, according to Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo […]
FAA grounds entire T-34 fleet
The FAA grounded the entire T-34 fleet after it discovered that cracks on the wing spar led to the crash of a Texas Air Aces T-34 earlier this month. An Emergency AD, issued Dec. 10, grounds about 320 Beech A-34 and T-34 aircraft. The AD allows aircraft to be flown back to home base or […]