Four Space Tourists, Including William Shatner, Return to Earth Safely

Blue Origin flight NS-18 completed its suborbital flight safely today, making it the company’s second successful manned voyage. Four astronauts, including Dr. Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, Audrey Powers, and William Shatner made their mark on a portion of aviation history when they returned to Earth on October 13.  The 90 year-old Shatner made history as the oldest man in space. After their capsule made landfall, the astronauts had an impromptu meeting with reporters.  Flanked by Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Shatner said “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can ask… I’m so filled with emotion abou

This Airplane Pretty Won All The Bragging Rights At Oshkosh!

Tom Duley, Builder of this Turboprop Velocity XL RG, takes a moment to share a few details of this impressive aircraft. The culmination of two years of development, planning, and testing resulted in this sleek, high-performance cross country machine. The build process was completed with the end goal of offering similar conversions in the future, according to Duley. Estimated cost for the end user, depending on the avionics chosen and level of involvement in the build, is in the range of $450-500K. Combining the benefits of a standard Velocity SportPlane with increased performance, and slightly de

Manage Flight Plans on iPad, Upload to FMS

Universal Avionics (UA) announced the launch of its new FlightPartner and FlightReview applications, available by the end of first quarter 2022. Shown on an iPad connected to UA’s WAAS / SBAS Flight Management System over wifi, the suite will enhance the convenience and capabilities of UA avionics through two-way data integration with aircraft FMS. The applications are part of UA’s ecosystem, meant to centralize and collate assorted tasks and communications between pilots, maintenance, and operations personnel. Operators and owners will be able to implement changes and improvements through review of flight analytics fleet-wide, or an individual aircraft.

Adds Improvements to “Super Midsize” Jet 

Gulfstream Aerospace has recently enhanced its popular mid-sized G280 following increased interest in the segment and wider business jet market. Referred to as a "super-midsize leader" by Gulfstream, the G280 has been facing increasing competition as the market heats up in the wake of 2020. Targeting areas of refinement that will pay the greatest dividends for discriminating customers, Gulfstream enhanced the G280 with cabin refinements, flight deck upgrades, safety systems, and climate controls.

Klyde Has A Little Extra Love For The Folks At Southwest... Who Stranded Thousands Recently

FMI: www.klydemorris.com

Winter Prize Given at NBAA-BACE 2021

In commemoration of a long career advancing the safety of the aviation industry, the NBAA honored Robert Sumwalt, former chairman of the NTSB, with the association’s Silk Scarf Award at this year’s expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Serving as a board member at the NTSB from 2006 until today, Sumwalt was nominated by President Trump in 2017 to serve as the 14th chairman. Prior to his work in the board, he had logged over 14,000 flight hours over two decades of flight as a commercial and business pilot. He has contributed a large body of work to aviation, having more than 100 articles on accident investigation and transportation safety, as well as years of consultant work for NASA’s ASRS.

Atlantic Aviation Offsets Carbon Footprint of Customers for Conference

Atlantic Aviation has confirmed its receipt of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at its Las Vegas Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. Making up about 15% of the total fuel volumes expected to be sold throughout the expo, sales are hoped to offset the carbon footprint for customers using Atlantic services during NBAA-BACE. “The effective replacement of traditional JET-A with this delivery of SAF represents another step forward in our commitment to renewable energy and allows our customers to actively participate in the reduction of carbon emissions without shouldering the cost” Said Jay Hamby, Senior vice president of Atlantic Aviation. 

Air Charter Operator’s Fleet Increases to 15 Citations

Textron Aviation, owner of the umbrella under which Cessna operates, reported their newest sale to charter operator Thrive Aviation for 3 more Cessna Citation Longitude business jets, set for delivery beginning in December 2021. Once the order is complete, their fleet will have 15 assorted Citations, including the Citation Longitude, Sovereign+, XLS+, CJ3+, and M2. Thrive Aviation, a Las Vegas-based private charter service, with membership offerings for use of its aircraft and crews. Recent expansions have continued to bring additional hangar space, operational footprint, and aircraft into service. In the last 18 months alone, they have more than doubled their fleet. 

Also: Airbus Zephyr, Russian Skydive Accident, Avance L3 for HondaJet, New ACE Exec Director

Tamarack Aerospace has announced it’s current demonstration and validation trials with their new King Air Tamarack Performance Smartwing, an active winglet load alleviation technology. In partnership with Dynamic Aviation, the complete modification process is under review by military and defense organizations looking to enhance capabilities for their fleet of King Air passive winglets. Testing on a 200 series aircraft began earlier this year, with 350 series testing to come. Cessna Citation, and now King Air users, can decrease fuel usage, increase payloa

The Airplane Disappeared Into The Trees, And He Then Saw A Ball Of Flames

On September 9, 2021, about 1527 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 402, N88833, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Provincetown, Massachusetts. The pilot and the six passengers were seriously injured. The airplane was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 as a scheduled passenger flight. The flight was being operated by Cape Air (flight 2072) and was on an instrument flight rules flight plan from Boston-Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, Massachusetts to Provincetown Municipal Airport (PVC), Provincetown, Massachusetts. The flight departed BOS about 1504.

Aero Linx: ANGEL FLIGHT SOARS Located at the Dekalb Peachtree Airport, ANGEL FLIGHT SOARS was formed by Jim Shafer in 1983 as a loosely organized group of volunteer pilots that helped out patients whenever possible. Due to increased media coverage in 1990, and an alliance with several other similar organizations (Air Care Alliance), ANGEL FLIGHT SOARS has taken off! ANGEL FLIGHT SOARS is the original volunteer pilot organization serving those who reside in, are traveling to or through the states of:   •  Georgia   •  Alabama   •  Mississippi   •  Tennessee &

Radar Required A term displayed on charts and approach plates and included in FDC NOTAMs to alert pilots that segments of either an instrument approach procedure or a route are not navigable because of either the absence or unusability of a NAVAID. The pilot can expect to be provided radar navigational guidance while transiting segments labeled with this term.

“What you have given me is the most profound experience I can ask… I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened, it’s extraordinary... I hope I never recover from this, I hope that I can maintain what I feel now, I don’t want to lose it. It’s so much larger than you, and me, and life.”  Source: From some of the emotional remarks made by former Star Trek actor, William Shatner to Jeff Bezos, upon emerging from his flight to space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepherd.