Mandatory pilot retirement regulations are in the spotlight as battles over age limits rage anew. Previously, these issues largely bypassed the business aviation world, because retirement age regulations established by many agencies worldwide apply solely to airline operations.

The effort to raise the standard from 65 to 67 years through the latest FAA reauthorization package is simply the newest clash over Part 121 retirement rules.

Leading private jet company and inventor of the jet card, Sentient Jet released its highly anticipated 2024 Exclusive Benefits Guide as the company celebrates 25 years in service. This year’s guide is valued at $225,000.

Now in its 11th year, the Sentient Jet Exclusive Benefits Guide is chock-full of information about the travel preferences of private flyers. Some of that data is proprietary, but Sentient is sharing interesting nuggets. On the flight trend side, South Florida—with its enduring hotspots of Miami, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach—overtook New York as the most popular regional destination last year.

The wide-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G650 received full FAA type certification in September 2012, just days after the Savannah-based aircraft manufacturer obtained final FAA and Israeli approval for its super-midsize G280. Gulfstream Aerospace expected to deliver the first outfitted G650s to customers before the end of the year; it delivered 12 green G650s in 2011 after receiving provisional FAA certification that November.

“The G650 is a superlative aircraft with the most technologically advanced flight deck in business aviation and the largest, most comfortable cabin in its class. In short, the G650 speaks to all that is good about business aviation: safety, security, flexibility, comfort, and capability,” said Gulfstream then-president Larry Flynn. “We designed the G650 with significant input from our advanced technology customer advisory team, and we’re extremely proud of what our entire organization has accomplished with this aircraft.”

At the Vertical Aviation International Heli-Expo show in February, helicopter flight simulators that use virtual reality (VR) glasses to replace bulky and expensive visual displays seemed to be all over the place. The two newest devices, Leonardo’s VxR (AW119) and TRU Simulation's Bell 505, were in use every day of the show, as was Loft Dynamics’ H125 VR simulator and a setup in the Rotor Safety Zone with two Precision Flight Controls VR simulators running on Ryan Aerospace motion bases.

I’d flown the Loft H125 at last year’s show, and this year with a fresh commercial rotorcraft add-on rating in hand, I tried out both the VxR and the 505. Each uses Varjo XR-3 mixed-reality glasses, which include hand-tracking that allows the user to interact with controls, avionics, and systems knobs, buttons, and switches in the cockpit and provides a high-resolution view of the outside world.

Rome's pleasures are so many and so rich that one is tempted to turn a trip into a scavenger hunt of beauty. The capital of Italy is called an outdoor museum for a reason: The first thing I tell people about Rome is that when you travel to most A-list destinations around the world, you must make plans to experience the attractions, but once you’re in Rome, you’re already there.

But as much as Rome is a landscape of preserved ancient ruins and spectacularly ornate churches, the city is also a feeling best captured by la dolce vita (the sweet life), dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing), and my personal favorite, sprezzatura—an almost ineffable quality of easy glamour and perfect nonchalance.

An undisclosed Japanese company this week took delivery of an early example of AutoFlight’s Prosperity I eVTOL. On Wednesday, the Chinese manufacturer said the aircraft has been shipped to Japan and is in the process of being transferred to the customer's premises.

AutoFlight also confirmed that it now holds type certification for the autonomous CarryAll freighter version of the aircraft, which has a payload of 440 kilograms (970 pounds). The Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the approval on March 22.

GE Aerospace became an independent company following the official spinoff of energy division GE Vernova. GE Aerospace now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “GE.” The standalone companies rang the opening bell together at the NYSE this week to mark the occasion.

“With the successful launch of three independent, public companies now complete, today marks a historic final step in the multi-year transformation of GE,” said GE chairman and CEO Lawrence Culp Jr. “I am tremendously proud of our team, their resilience, and their dedication to achieving this defining moment.”

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