CFII Candidates, Rejoice!

The new Cleared for Instrument Instructing course and curriculum cumulatively add an Instrument Instruction (CFII) rating to a CFI’s Flight Instructor certificate. The courseware is the latest addition to King Schools’ Cessna Flight Training System (CFTS). The program includes home study material plus flight school tracking of FAA Part 141 approvable syllabi for Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor, and now the Instrument Flight Instructor (CFII) rating. The complete set of courses allows a flight school to develop a professional pilot program by which candidates may proceed seamlessly from zero hours to airline hire.

'Pipedreams' Do Come True

Samson Sky, the “flying motorcycle” guys have been a perennial fixture at the national airshows for years, many thinking they were nothing but so many flashes in the pan, pie in the sky flights of fancy we have seen before. We have all just been corrected in a most pleasant manner. Those that have kept up with samson have seen trials and tribulations working thru cobbling together a road driveable aircraft that did both functions well enough to be practical and attractive enough to be desirable. The Samson Switchblade is by all accounts an attractive vehicle shedding the usual awkwardness of a combo vehicle.

Piper at the Gates of SUN ‘n FUN

Piper Aircraft announced it delivered 15% more aircraft in 2022 than it had in 2021. Additionally, Piper’s flagship aircraft, the M600/SLS, a ferocious, turboprop evolution of the storied PA-46 Malibu, was even further improved with innovative updates—as was the company’s Karma, by dint of support it lent to more than 25 philanthropic organizations.

Nolen’s Day Dawns?

Contemporaneously faced with an unprecedented and worrying paroxysm of runway incursions and a fast-approaching summer travel season, the Federal Aviation Administration has resolved to improve U.S. domestic aviation safety.

Nine Lives Lost in Kentucky Tragedy

U.S. Army officials confirmed on Thursday, 30 March 2023 that two Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the Army’s famed 101st Airborne Division have gone down in southwestern Kentucky’s Trigg County, near the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The accident claimed the lives of all nine service-members aboard the two aircraft. The mishap—the cause of which remains unknown—occurred at approximately 22:00 EDT on Wednesday, 29 March during a night-time training exercise in which the two UH-60 helicopters were engaged.

STEM Cells

As the aerospace industry contends with a worrying paucity of skilled personnel, many professional organizations, to include the EAA and GAMA, posit aviation’s future may well hinge upon the popularity of and participation in high school aero clubs and similarly aviation-focused student organizations—such as the clubs and assemblies secondary to elementary and high school Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) curricula.

Big Fun in Small Airframes

The purchase of an aircraft is a daunting undertaking—particularly in an era characterized by $250,000 kit aircraft and $80-million Gulfstreams. Individuals drawn to flight but disinclined or insufficiently monied to burn their cash in conflagrations of AVGAS or Jet-A are encouraged to visit the website or SUN ‘n FUN exhibits of Horizon Hobby, a retailer specializing in remote-controlled (RC) aircraft.

Get Your Wacky Ideas In NOW!

ANN E-I-C Note: Folks... we gotta warn you... we're trying to do our best April 1st Edition yet and based on all the nonsense we've had to endure in 2022-2023 (which we are duty-bound to lampoon), we certainly have good reason for that... so if you have any ideas of your own as to how to heighten the insanity, this is your LAST CHANCE. As always... NO ONE IS SAFE. We're going to have some fun with EVERYONE... the FAA, Cirrus, USA Today, Congress, TSA, Cirrus, EAA, AOPA, Sun 'n Fun, Dale Klapmeier, every UAV ever flown, Cirrus, every UAV-phobe in the known universe, every self-appointed aviation expert who can't spell aileron, the USAF,

PA44-180 Delivered to Inter American University

On Tuesday, 28 March 2023, Piper Aircraft, the storied and perennial American aircraft manufacturer, announced it had delivered a specimen of its enduring PA44-180 Seminole light twin-engine airplane to Puerto Rico’s Inter American University (IAU). The purchase agreement by which the aircraft was acquired was signed at SUN ‘n FUN 2022. Comes now SUN ‘n FUN 2023, and the promised Seminole—the first to be delivered to Puerto Rico in a quarter-century—has arrived on the Caribbean island and unincorporated U.S. territory.

Beverly Hills Showroom Continues Expansion with Focus on Interior Design

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp opened a new, interior-focused showroom in the upscale locale of Beverly Hills, California. The new 12,000 square-foot showroom builds up Gulfstream’s presence in the region while putting its laser-focused cabin design work on display for a prime target demographic. The Beverly Hills Sales and Design Center features full-scale cabin mock-ups of all the best sellers at Gulfstream, including the  G400, G700, and G800. The models allow prospective customers to see and experience the living areas and seating for each jet before ordering one of their own.

Also: Airborne-Special Editions Reports On Some Amazing Aspects Coming To SnF23!

Welcome to this special edition of Airborne. As we continue to prepare for the 49th rendition of the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, now less than a week away, SnF Boss, Gene Conrad has kept the Lakeland staff busy with all manner of new updates and improvements. In this chat, we continue with even more cool stuff... starting out with FIGHTERS! Gene starts out this chat with some cool news about their F-14 restorations and some even cooler news about the all the fighter action we can expect this year. There will be NO limit to the firepower at SnF23! He also provides some d

From 2015 (YouTube Version): RC Aviation Offers Stunning Technologies and TRULY Exciting Flying Fun For Today's Model Aviators

While at eFest 2015, ANN CEO and Editor-In-Chief, Jim Campbell, talks with a company known as Horizon Hobby to find out what’s going on in the rapidly changing world of remote control (RC) aircraft. In this interview, Jim talks with David Payne, the senior product developer of airplanes for Horizon Hobby, about the airplane facet of RC flying. Payne starts off by saying one of the most important achievements in recent years is the development of a technology referred to as “SAFE.” SAFE is the acronym f

Also: DJI Mini 2 SE, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inmarsat & Heron AirBridge, Sikorsky eVTOL

Senator Mark Kelly (Democrat, Arizona), a former U.S. Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut, has openly opined that the 14 March 2023 incident in which a pair of Russian Su-27 Flanker jet fighters downed a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) over the Black Sea is ascribable to incompetence on the parts of the Russian pilots. Lift's Hexa aircraft made a notable demo for the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), obtaining approval for additional demonstrations. The company completed Phase 1 flight testing and initial envelope development with the USAF, moving onward to

Aero Linx: The Brodhead Pietenpol Association The Brodhead Pietenpol Association is a newly reorganized (in 2017) non-profit educational corporation that grew and developed from an earlier type club for owners, pilots, builders, and aficionados of the Pietenpol Aircamper and Sky Scout. The original BPA was started in 1975 (then called the National Pietenpol Association) as a social and builder support group. It has evolved over the years and now, after four decades, has blossomed into a newly re-organized Pietenpol-focused educational organization with part of its mission now including among other activities, promoting aviation safety related to antique amateur-built aircraft, disseminating safe amat

Multicom A mobile service not open to public correspondence used to provide communications essential to conduct the activities being performed by or directed from private aircraft.

"Going forward, zero has to be the only acceptable number for serious incidents and close calls. Air travel is coming back in a big way since the pandemic. But the long layoff, coupled with the increased technical nature of our systems, might have caused some professionals to lose some of that muscle memory." Source: Acting Administrator of the FAA, Bill Nolen, in speaking at a 28 March industry meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, during which he alluded to post-COVID pressures on America’s National Airspace System (NAS) and Airports.