Witness List Includes AEA's Blakey, GAMA's Bunce

The Aviation Subcommittee of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, chaired by Congressman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), will hold a hearing Wednesday to review the state of American aviation manufacturing, including economic health and challenges facing the industry.

AEA Making Awards Through Random Drawings At Oshkosh

To help incentivize owners of GA aircraft to meet the FAA's ADS-B Out mandate, the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) will randomly award five aircraft owners with $1,000 toward an ADS-B compliant upgrade.

Once Again, A Federal Judges Has Ruled That The FAA Cannot Stop The Use Of Commercial Drones Unless They Are Enforcing Published Regulations ... The FAA Has A Differing Opinion

Earlier this year ANN published a story about Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit organization that helps local authorities search for missing persons. Texas EquuSearch had begun using drones to enhance their search ability in remote areas and rough terrain. The FAA had notified Texas EquuSearch by e-mail that their use of a drone was in fact a commercial operation and they were not allowed to do it under the threat of fines levied by the FAA.

Adds Capability With Connext Cockpit Connectivity, WireAware, Additional Features

Garmin has introduced additional enhancements and new features for the GTN touchscreen avionics. New capabilities include Connext cockpit connectivity, which supports wireless flight plan transfer between the GTN 750/650 series navigators and Garmin Pilot.

Some PA-46 Models May Develop Cracks In Engine Mount Where NLG Attaches

The FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin pertaining to certain Piper Models PA-46-310P, PA-46-350P, PA-46R-350T, and PA-46-500TP airplanes. The SAIB indicates that the airplane may develop cracks in the engine mount where both the nose landing gear (NLG) trunnion and the NLG actuator attach.

Analyst Brian Foley Says Big Investors Are Flocking To GA Companies

It may come as a surprise that there’s actually an overabundance of big investors literally tripping over one another to provide growth capital to general aviation companies or buy them. The discouraging fact is that they all seem to be cut from the same cloth, requiring the firm to have a good $20 million in annual revenues and $5 million in profits known as EBITDA.

Model Aircraft Flyers And Pilots Of Full Scale Aircraft Are Running Into Similar Problems With FAA Rules Application

Model aviation is the foundation of many of the aviation advances we enjoy today. In the history of aviation, early experiments started with miniature aircraft and, even today, sophisticated aircraft are commonly first produced in a scaled-down version for initial testing. Modelers call the big guys “full scale” and they are now running into some of the same “full scale” concerns with the FAA rulemaking process as the full scale flyers.

Enhances Connext With Wireless Cockpit Connectivity To Mobile Devices

Garmin has unveiled an expanded Connext portfolio of products and features, to include wireless connectivity between select Garmin avionics and Garmin Pilot on an iPad/iPhone and certain Android mobile devices. When paired with compatible Garmin avionics, the Flight Stream 110 can share weather, traffic, GPS information, SiriusXM Aviation weather and SiriusXM satellite radio on mobile devices operating Garmin Pilot.

Analyst Brian Foley Says More Diesel Options Likely To Come To Market

Every industry has periodic innovation leaps that markedly differentiates its new products from legacy ones. Advances in cockpit electronics were a recent example for small general aviation aircraft, with pilots offered flat panel screens instead of gauges, precise GPS navigation, graphical depictions of weather and traffic and even synthetic vision that portrays the outside world even when it’s obscured.

Two Florida Residents Fatally Injured When Plane Went Down In Indiana

The NTSB has released a probable cause report for an accident which occurred in October, 2012 that resulted in the fatal injury of two people on board a Cirrus SR22. The report cites both the pilot and Air Traffic Control as contributing to the accident.