Another Small-Timer Falsifies Parts Conditions, Pays the Price

Another criminal case involving non-airworthy parts swappage has seen the sentencing of those involved, costing the perpetrators a year in prison and about $300,000 in restitution. Daniel Navarro, 50 years old, was the Vice President of Sofly Aviation Services, a parts distributor. Jorge Guerrero, 71, was the firm's Procurement & Asset Management Specialist. Their grift wasn't anything particularly complex or thought out: Sofly would buy cheap parts marked "as removed", and then fake the paperwork affirming that those same pieces were airworthy, refurbished, tested, or inspected when they sold them to the end user. In fact, they did nothing to ensure the parts were genuinely overha

Hydrogen Demonstrator Applies Lessons Learned from Battery Flight, With Impressive Results

Joby Aviation managed to pull off a 523-mile flight using their hybrid electric/hydrogen VTOL aircraft, once again putting them near the front of the sustainable pack in terms of real-world accomplishment. Their demonstrator finished off a 523-mile flight putting out nothing but water as the byproduct of its hybrid powerplant. That's pretty good for a draggy VTOL aircraft, though unsurprisingly achieved by using a liquid hydrogen fuel source. While 520-plus miles aren't too impressive among fixed-wing operators, it should be remembered that Joby's aircraft is geared towards urban travel, being quieter, smaller, and less intrusive to locals while operating in

Commercial Service to the Mainland Could Prove a Vital Lifeline of Affordable Transit

 Elfly Group has announced a partnership with the Swedish Region Gotland that could see their 'green' Noemi seaplane enter commercial services to the island by 2027. Elfly Group has been hard at work on the 'Noemi' (taken from "No Emissions"), a relatively traditional looking seaplane that uses electrically driven overwing motors in place of gas-burning turboprops. Gotland is a solid choice to start seaplane operations, too, being the largest of Sweden's islands about 55 miles offshore. Both Elfly Group and Region Gotland signed off on a Letter of Intent detailing to explore 'deeper collaboration', which will likely blossom in time as the Noemi gets closer t

85-Jet Home Base Gets Even Bigger as Gulfstream Market Grows

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation says it's finished its expansion of the newly enlarged Customer Support service center at Savannah, Georgia's Hilton Head International Airport. The new Savannah Service Center East is open for business, offering more than 200 new jobs with 'significantly' expanded capacity for maintenance, repair and overhaul. The opening was attended by a handful of state and local dignitaries, community partners, and Gulfstream family for a short ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially dedicate the new space.

Promises Functionality and Convenience

Sporty’s Flight Gear stable of products has a new tool available: the new Flight Gear iPad Organizer Kneeboard. It’s an all-in-one organizer with multiple compartments and pockets for pilots to keep an iPad EFB along with whatever other items they like to keep handy in an easily accessible place during flight. The kneeboard has a universal mounting surface that accommodates most iPad sizes and even cases. The iPad angle can be adjusted for glare with the folding kickstand that folds flat for stowage. There are pockets for batteries and charging cables and of course an adjustable leg strap. There is even a pocket for a paper notepad with a pen loop for those occasions when notati

Pyka to Deliver Its Fully Autonomous Pelican Spray Model

SLC Agricola is one of the largest agricultural producers in Brazil, working 1.7 million acres of farmland and is a leading innovator of farming practices. SLC has signed a commercial agreement with Oakland, California, -based Pyka Inc. for the purchase of its fully autonomous and all-electric aerial application platform, the Pelican Spray aircraft. With this agreement Pyka represents a significant customer addition and boosts its entry into one of the largest agricultural markets in the world. It also positions Pyka to expand its efforts into major row crops such as soybeans, corn, and cotton.

Partnership Provides Students Real-World Experience

The recent National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) Regional Forum at Westchester County Airport (KHPN) in White Plains, New York, was the launch pad for a new partnership between the airport’s sponsor Westchester County, and Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology. The partnership creates a paid college internship intended to set up students for good-paying jobs in the aviation industry with real-world experience in airport administration, operations, and airline services. Students will simultaneously have numerous opportunities to interact with private pilots, FBOs, commercial airlines, and flight departments of Fortune 500 companies. The internship was announced af

Also: Eco Aero-Vandalism, Simulated Mars, KC-46A Pegasus Record, USAF Warrant Officers

Polaris Dawn is the first of the Polaris Program, a series of three planned space missions all funded and commanded by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of Shift4. The privately funded mission is slated to be launched July 31. SpaceX has announced it will provide the launch capability with its Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon crew capsule. The Royal Canadian Air Force is celebrating its 100th anniversary at AirVenture Oshkosh 2024, bringing out the whole kit and kaboodle of the Canadian performing fleet. That means they'll have the headlining Snowbirds, equipped wi

Failure Of The Landing Gear Due To Material Deficiencies That Reduced The Strength Of The Landing Gear

Analysis: According to the pilot, when the airplane reached 15-20 knots (kts) during the initial takeoff roll, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the airplane ground looped to the left. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left elevator and left wing. Examination of the left main landing gear (MLG) leg determined it fractured due to preexisting cracks that initiated at the inboard side of the leg at the forward and aft sides of the forward hole for attaching the leg to the fuselage at the outboard attachment bracket. Examination of the crack revealed it existed before the accident flight; however, spacing betwe

From 2017 (YouTube Version): Cicaré Helicopter Displays SVH-4 Single-Seat Training Device At HAI…

Cicaré Helicopters displayed the SVH4 single-seat simulator training device at HAI 2017 in Dallas this year. Mike Creed, CEO, DEA General Aviation (USA/China) for Cicaré Helicopters, told Aero-News CEO and editor in chief Jim Campbell that the SVH-4 can be used by student pilots for up to 10 hours credit towards their FAA Private Pilot certificate. Creed said that the ground-based SVH-4 can revolutionize helicopter training, and DEA General Aviation has purchased 48 of the devices for use in the U.S. market. He said that the primary ma

Aero Linx: The Bellanca-Champion Club The Bellanca-Champion Club welcomes all owners, pilots, and enthusiasts. Whether you're a Bellanca owner or not, we invite you to join us. The club is dedicated to the Bellanca Cruisair, Cruisemaster, Viking/Super Viking, American Champion Citabria, Decathlon, Scout, Champion, and AviaBellanca Skyrocket lines of aircraft, their furtherance, history, preservation, and maintenance.

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed visually and clear of clouds to the airport via visual landmarks and other information depicted on a charted visual flight procedure. This approach must be authorized and under the control of the appropriate air traffic control facility. Weather minimums required are depicted on the chart.

“Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore, or Nashville to New Orleans without the need to go to an airport and with no emissions except water. That world is closer than ever, and the progress we’ve made towards certifying the battery-electric version of our aircraft gives us a great head start as we look ahead to making hydrogen-electric flight a reality. The vast majority of the design, testing and certification work we’ve completed on our battery-electric aircraft carries over to commercializing hydrogen-electric flight. In service, we also expect to be able to use the same landing pads, the same operations team, and Joby’s ElevateOS software that will support the commercial operation of our battery-electric aircra