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 »

Blackhawk Modifications celebrated Eclipse Day on Monday with the announcement that it had earned FAA STC approval for its modification package that puts new, more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6-67A turboprop engines on existing King Air 350s. Blackhawk president Jim Allmon said the certification process included 172 flight hours over the course of 132 flights, more »

As pilots, we’re undoubtedly alike in that we keep our eyes and ears open for cool things to do with a plane. Go see a total eclipse of the sun? We’re there. So being that we pretty much think alike on such things, it should come as no surprise that there will be a lot more »

While the FCC is unlikely to start putting pilots in jail for misuse of the common emergency frequency, 121.5, the commission’s message is crystal clear: dialing up 121.5 is for real emergencies and pilots need to respect that fact. The commission has a point. There are plenty of frequencies for pilots to use for communications more »

Six years and more than 15,000 volunteer hours went into the construction a flyable replica of the World War I-era Morane-Saulnier Type L “Parasol” before the plane made its U.S. debut at this year’s AirVenture. The project was a joint venture between the Association Héritage Avions Morane-Saulnier and French aircraft manufacturer Daher. The lovely little more »

The recent announcement by DeLorean Aerospace that it’s developing what many are referring to as a “flying car” has garnered a lot of attention. For starters, yes, it’s that “DeLorean.” The start-up aviation company is run by a nephew of the infamous car maker John DeLorean whose cool gull-wing-door speedster starred in the mega hit more »

This Monday, the NTSB released an update on the August 12th crash of a Virginia State Police helicopter in Charlottesville, Virginia that killed Virginia State Police Officer-pilots H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Berke Bates, 40. The NTSB reported that the Bell 407 helicopter left Charlottesville airport at 3:54 pm. From 4:04 to 4:42, the aircraft more »