Embracing AVANCE-ment

Gogo Business Aviation, the American provider of in-flight broadband Internet and connectivity solutions for business aircraft, announced that its proprietary AVANCE inflight broadband connectivity solution has been selected by flyExclusive—the North Carolina-based charter operator and aircraft fractional ownership concern. To better serve its customers, flyExclusive will upgrade forty of its ninety-plus aircraft fleet with Gogo’s AVANCE connectivity platform.

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Textron has unveiled the Cessna Citation Ascend, the newest model in Cessna’s proven and popular 560XL series. Made public on the eve of 2023’s European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), the Citation Ascend—by virtue of its wholly redesigned cockpit, improved performance, and a more luxurious cabin—pleasantly disrupts the midsize business jet market. Representatives of Airbus’s Perlan Mission II announced its pilots and engineers had completed a successful flight test campaign in the Southwestern U.S., thereby clearing the way for a 2023 attempt to set a new aviation world altitude record for manned, level flight. The pressurized Perlan II glider—which, in 2018, set the subsonic world altitude record at over 76,000-feet—was shipped from the U.S. on 01 May and is currently enroute to El Calafate, Argentina. A sa

Fostering Flying in the Sunshine State

On 27 May 2023, EAA Chapter 534 hosted a Flying Start event, at which eight prospective adult student pilots were schooled in the particulars of the at-once arduous and rewarding business of earning an FAA Private Pilot Certificate. The EAA’s Flying Start initiative is a chapter-hosted program that welcomes, inspires, and educates aspiring pilots—ages 18 and older—vis-à-vis the didactic, practical, and regulatory conventions by which non-fliers are fashioned into licensed aviators.

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Virgin Galactic has successfully completed its Unity 25 space mission, thinking this makes them ready for commercial service after just a few handfuls of flights. Mission specialists Jamila Gilbert, Christopher Huie, and Luke Mays ventured spaceward for purpose of conducting final end-to-end assessments of Virgin Galactic’s Unity spacecraft and overall spaceflight experience. The first delivery of Cessna's passenger-layout SkyCourier was tendered to Western Aircraft, Inc last week, kicking off the industry's next favorite twin-turboprop, light commuter twin - or so Textron hopes. The delivery marks off the first time a passenger SkyCourier has made its way into operator hands, with previous deliveries consisting solely of cargo variants. GAMA released its first-quarter 2023 General Aviation Aircraft Shipment and Billing Report—compared to the same period in 2022&m

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US Aviation Academy has set forth that it has launched its second Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) training location at San Marcos Regional Airport (HYI)—a public-use airport in southeast-central Texas’s Caldwell County.CAE announced that it is expanding its global network of simulator training centers to Central Europe. The announcement, made at EBACE 2023, set forth that CAE will presently open a new business aviation training center in Vienna, Austria. Operations at the new facility are slated to get underway in the latter half of 2024. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), the labor union by which American Airlines pilots are represented, authorized a strike in the wake of protracted contract talks with the air-carrier. The authorizing of a strike is the first in a long and complex succession of prerequisites that must be met prior to American Airli

Planegiarism

China’s first domestically-produced airliner, the Comac C919, made its inaugural revenue flight on Sunday, 28 May 2023. Operated by China Eastern Airlines, the flight conveyed some 130 paying passengers between Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Beijing’s Capital International Airport (PEK). The 164-seat, narrow-body aircraft—of which China Eastern took delivery in December 2022—was manufactured by China’s state-owned Commercial Aviation Corporation of China (Comac).

Klyde Opines On the Glamorous Profession of Corporate Piloting

FMI: www.klydemorris.com

After 2 years in Storage, Etihad's Biggest Birds Return to Service 

After years of being packed away, Etihad has begun readying their Airbus A380 aircraft for passenger service once again. The aircraft were stowed away during the nadir of pandemic-era passenger loads, when the high costs of operation vastly outweighed the utility of keeping the aircraft in service. Now, as things have rebounded, the accountants have given their blessing to A380 service.

Klyde Is Getting A Bit Tired Of Life On The Road...

FMI: www.klydemorris.com

Global 6500 Aircraft With Riffing by General Dynamics Offered as Submarine Hunter

Bombardier published an interesting-looking antisubmarine version of its Global 6500 jet in a combined offer with General Dynamics’ Canadian arm. The aircraft is proposed for the Canadian Multi-Mission System, or CMMA, program. The end goal is a capable aircraft that can fill a number of roles beyond the apparent anti-sub duties. The CMMA is to provide command, control, communications, ISR, anti-submarine, and anti-ship capabilities in one aircraft.