New, inexpensive autopilots are coming to market almost faster than we can keep up with, and the latest one, the Trio Avionics Pro Pilot, is ready to ship. The autopilot, STC and install kit sell for $7,500. The autopilot is a two-axis unit (pitch and roll). The arrangement to get the autopilot installed in a more »

The NTSB yesterday published its preliminary report on the crash that killed country music star Troy Gentry, one half of the popular country music duo Montgomery Gentry. The fatal crash took place after the helicopter’s commercial pilot, James Evan Robinson, shut down the non-throttle-responsive engine and attempted an autorotation to the runway at the Flying more »

If the future of aviation is electric, we’re going to need somewhere to plug our cheaper, quieter planes in. Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel has it covered. The company—in partnership with several university students—has developed and installed the first-ever taxi-up-and-plug-in public electric aircraft charging station. One of Pipistrel’s Alpha Electro trainers was the first to more »

With the FAA’s general aviation ADS-B rebate program coming to a close on September 18, significantly fewer than half of the offered 20,000 rebates for ADS-B Out installation have been claimed. The program offers a $500 rebate to, according to the FAA, “help owners of less-expensive general aviation aircraft equip now with the required avionics.” more »

App and Data Company Seattle Avionics has introduced a low-priced ADS-B receiver based on the Statux kit that’s popular with do-it-yourselfers. At a price of $250, Seattle Avionics’ little box comes fully assembled and calibrated. The Merlin is a dual-band receiver with both 978 and 1090 capabilities, dual antennas, an internal battery with a four-hour more »

Hurricane Irma’s wet and windy path along the length of the Florida peninsula resulted in a surprisingly limited amount of damage at the state’s larger airports, while smaller general aviation fields were hit harder. All of the state’s major hubs, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Tallahassee, were either already operating by more »

A video showing a Cessna 172 hitting a tree has been released by the Plainville Police Department. Thankfully—and astonishingly— the pilot, 79-year-old Manfred Forst, sustained only minor injuries. He has already been released from the hospital. It has been reported that the Cessna 172P, N54463, departed Robertson Field Airport (4B8) in Plainville, Connecticut. The crash more »

The NTSB has issued the preliminary report on the August 12th crash of a Virginia State Police Bell 407 helicopter in Charlottesville, VA. The accident, which killed officer-pilots H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Berke Bates, took place while the helicopter was re-routing from providing video footage of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville to escort more »

With the delivery of a fresh-out-of-the-factory Piper Archer this Thursday, ATP Flight School brought its training fleet up to 300 aircraft. The plane is the 80th Archer of an order of 100 that ATP placed as part of a three-year agreement with Piper Aircraft. The new Garmin G500-equipped Archer keeps up the school’s expansion momentum—it more »

For the past nearly two decades, Dassault, the company that makes the Falcon Jet line of business jets, has been using what it calls a “tool” in helping with relief efforts here in the United States and abroad. That tool is a specially outfitted Falcon 900 tri-jet that the company has used to provide humanitarian more »

The new Eclipse Project Canada—now called the EA700—has taken to the skies, at least in part. That part is the wing, to be precise. ONE Aviation modified an an Eclipse 500 with the wing designed for the EA700 and, last Friday, performed a 1.5-hour flight test—a first for the wing design. ONE Aviation reports that more »

For aircraft owners looking for a less-expensive autopilot option, EAA subsidiary EAA STC, LLC has begun selling STCs for TruTrak’s Vizion autopilot. TruTrak got Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) from the FAA for installation of the Vizion in select Part 23 aircraft earlier this spring. At the moment, the Vizion is available for Cessna 172 models more »

The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey just keeps getting worse. As of Tuesday, the Hurricane is regrouping in the Gulf for another run at Texas, Louisiana and possibly Arkansas. And more airports are being impacted by the storm. On Monday evening, the Army Corps of Engineers started releasing water from the rapidly rising Addicks and more »

This Monday, AOPA filed official complaints with the FAA regarding fees charged by FBOs located at Waukegan National Airport (Illinois), Asheville Regional Airport (North Carolina) and Key West International Airport (Florida). All three are on AOPA’s list of “most complained about airports with egregious FBO prices.” Each location has a single FBO—each run by Signature more »

On the NTSB’s list of the most common causes of general aviation accidents between 2011 and 2015, fuel-related accidents ranked sixth. That’s more than 50 accidents each year. What is, perhaps, more striking is the NTSB findings that 95 percent of fuel management related accidents involved pilot error. In 56 percent of fuel-related accidents, the more »

The days-long storm, Hurricane Harvey, is not done yet. Forecasters expect some areas in Texas to be inundated with as much as 50 inches of rain. Closed airports are adding to the huge logistical problems of rescuing people trapped by floodwaters. In the days to come, the closings are also sure to affect the delivery more »

As of last week, the FAA has made some changes to its Flight Standards Service (AFS) including a new organizational structure and statements about its philosophy and goals for the future. Perhaps the biggest change is that the new structure removes regional divisions and divides oversight into four functional organizations: Air Carrier, General Aviation, Standards, more »

What do you get when you take a super rare astronomical phenomenon, confine it to a 70-mile swath across the United States, make it so that driving anywhere in that patch of temporary darkness is going to be nightmarish? You get a perfect storm for unprecedented light plane traffic, and that’s apparently just what we more »