GUEST EDITORIAL By DAVID WARTOFSKY In addition to many great e-mails and telephone calls from around the USA, my petition to replace the 3rd class medical for aircraft under 6,000 lb. with a driver’s license, like for LSA pilots, has gathered almost 800 supporting comments so far. I’ve even heard the FAA has been floating […]
IndUS breaks ground in China for LSA manufacturing facility
Dallas-based IndUS Aviation reported at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla., that progress is being made with Chinese partner IPI Technologies and private investors in China to move production of the Thorpedo Light Sport Aircraft to the new LuYangHu General Aviation Development Zone in Weinan, China. Dr. Ram Pattisapu reports, “I just returned […]
Too many LSAs?
Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft. How many is too many? As the Light-Sport Aircraft industry has now reached 114 FAA approved models, some have started to say, “Enough!” True, a small number have already left the roster, but even those may not be permanent […]
Carter’s PAV takes flight
Carter Aviation Technologies President Jay Carter has a vision of a world where people fly around in small, car-sized autogyro-airplane hybrids that can take off and land without a runway. According to a story in the Times Record News of Wichita Falls, Texas, the idea may have seemed like fantasy some 16 years ago when […]
Textron back in black
Textron Inc., parent to Cessna Aircraft Co., posted a fourth-quarter profit, with revenues increasing at both Cessna and Bell Helicopter, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which quotes Textron Chairman and Chief Executive Scott Donnelly: “We’re particularly encouraged by the pick-up in business jet and commercial helicopter demand, driven in part by […]
LEX wins FAA award
Blue Grass Airport (LEX) in Lexington, Ky., has been presented with the Airport Safety Mark of Distinction Award by the FAA. Awarded at the FAA Southern Region 2011 Airport Safety and Certification Conference in Atlanta, the airport received this honor for construction of its new general aviation runway and associated taxiways and for the development […]
Lightspeed Aviation Foundation’s grants top $100,000
Twenty aviation-related charities are the beneficiaries of more than $100,000 in grants awarded by the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation for 2010. Midnight, Feb. 11, is the deadline for charities to apply for 2011 grants. In April 2010, the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation submitted 20 finalists to the aviation community. Pilots then selected their favorites among these charities […]
Authors convene at 2011 WAI Conference
Aviation authors and their devoted readers will get a chance to talk during the 22nd Annual International Women in Aviation Conference, which will be held Feb. 24-26, at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. “Both the authors and our members enjoy meeting one another,” says WAI President Dr. Peggy Chabrian. “Authors get feedback about […]
C. R. Smith Museum celebrates 100 years of black aviation
American Airlines C. R. Smith Museum hosts a “Celebration of 100 Years of Black Aviation” with special presentations by Donald Elder, an original member of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, and C. B. Rice, a historian and author. The Jan. 29 event at the Dallas-area museum is a kick-off for Black History Month in February. There […]