By the mid-1980s, the general aviation industry was headed toward a grave and uncertain future. Cessna Aircraft had made the decision to cease piston-aircraft production. Piper Aircraft was headed toward bankruptcy and by 1991 had entered Chapter 11. An industry that in 1979 delivered nearly 18,000 aircraft had dwindled to about 2,500 unit shipments just six years later and 1,300 by 1993. And that was turbine and piston aircraft combined.

While many factors played into this, most fingers pointed to product liability as a chief reason. Simply put, manufacturers could no longer afford the long liability tail left by their 40-plus-year-old machines. That was the backdrop for a nearly decade-long battle that culminated in the 1994 passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act, or GARA. One of the most significant victories for the industry, it was a massive undertaking in a Congress that had little appetite for product liability reform.

Bombardier delivered its 150th Global 7500 ultra-long-range business jet in September and the fleet has amassed more than 100,000 flight hours since service entry in December 2018. The aircraft has also set dozens of speed/distance records, including an 8,225-nm October 2019 flight from Sydney to Detroit. Bombardier claims the Global 7500 has a dispatch reliability rate of 99.8%.

The 7500 features a “smooth flex wing” that reduces drag, fuel burn, and turbulence; a three- or four-zone passenger cabin with the Lufthansa nice Touch cabin management system, Nuage zero-gravity single executive seats, and Soleil lighting designed with circadian rhythm–based technology to combat jet lag; a large galley; and a dedicated crew suite.

It was a night tailor-made for flying–smooth air, barely a cloud in the sky, and miles of visibility. The center controller had handed the crew off to approach control with a friendly, “G’night,” and within a few minutes, the pilots were cleared for a visual approach to the active runway about 15 miles straight ahead. From their position, the crew could easily see the airport, enveloped by the sodium-vapor shimmer of the city’s vast downtown. Just another routine flight, to be followed shortly by a van ride to the hotel and some well-deserved shuteye.

Everything appeared normal until at some point during the descent the calm in the cockpit suddenly was broken by a stern male voice calling out, “Caution, terrain!” For reasons neither pilot could immediately grasp, the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System had triggered an alert. The pilots did not understand why. The airport was right there, less than 10 miles ahead.

This may sound sacrilegious, but during a demonstration flight in the Skyryse flight simulator, I realized that this is exactly how a helicopter ought to fly. There is just one flight control, a stick, and forget about managing a collective (power), cyclic (pitch and bank), and yaw (pedals). Skyryse’s SkyOS flight control and operating system eliminates the complexity and makes flying pure fun. 

Skyryse was founded in 2017 by CEO Mark Groden and has a headquarters facility in Southern California’s aerospace cluster in El Segundo. Flight testing of airborne hardware is done at Camarillo Airport, about 50 miles north and west. The company’s goal is clear: to develop a flight control system using fly-by-wire technology and software to turn existing aircraft—rotorcraft and airplanes—into machines that can be flown by almost anyone but still benefit from their full performance and flight envelopes.

We all know the famous James Bond scene where Goldfinger gets sucked out the window of his jet, but could this really happen?

Don't believe everything you see in the movies!

UK airline start-up Ecojet plans to include Arc Aerosystems’ Linx P9 hybrid-electric compound helicopter in its fleet. Under a letter of intent announced during last week’s Farnborough Airshow, the new carrier provisionally committed to buying 20 of the nine-passenger rotorcraft, as well as signing for 30 more under options.

Ecojet was launched in November and at that time said it aimed to launch using as-yet-unspecified aircraft that would use jet-A. Arc has not said when it will be able to start deliveries of the Linx P9.

An advanced airborne 5G connectivity system has been successfully integrated into a Britten-Norman Islander aircraft after the completion of a series of demonstration flights. A group of British companies led by Stratospheric Platforms Ltd. (SPL), a non-terrestrial networks telecoms developer, is developing the technology, with UK OEM Britten-Norman overseeing the design, integration, and demonstration flights.

SPL seeks to develop airborne antennas to deliver widescale high-performance 5G coverage. The technology has various uses, such as quickly restoring networks after major disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis, where traditional mobile network infrastructure has been disrupted.

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