Finnoff Aviation Products has combined upgrades for the Pilatus PC-12 into a single offering called the Elite Performance Package, which includes a new engine, propeller, electrical bus-tie, and various battery options. The bundle saves buyers about $100,000, equivalent to the price of the propeller, according to Finnoff.

Available for the pre-2008 PC-12/45 and /47 models, the Finnoff package starts with replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B engine in legacy PC-12s with the PC-12 NG’s PT6A-67P.

Pilot, commercial astronaut, and SpaceX Inspiration4 crew member Jared "Rook" Isaacman was just selected to run NASA, and we always like an excuse to return to our interviews with this extraordinary entrepreneur and humanitarian.

The astronaut spoke to BJT at the recent NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas. This was not the magazine's first encounter with Isaacman, who first talked with us in 2011. That's when he told us the amazing story of how he dropped out of high school at age 16 and founded the company that made him a billionaire.

After nearly a decade in the making, the U.S. FAA on Dec. 16, 2016, issued its comprehensive rewrite of Part 23, setting in motion an entirely new approach to certifying small airplanes and products. Then-FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, flanked by the heads of three general aviation manufacturers, announced the release of the new rule during a press conference at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., saying it will “usher in a new era of safety and a new era of innovation in general aviation in the U.S.”

The rule moves the FAA away from its long history of establishing detailed prescriptive standards for new products to a performance-based approach under which the agency establishes the performance objectives for new products and gives the manufacturer flexibility on how it meets those objectives.

The NTSB highlighted several safety issues with Part 135 in a recently published aviation special investigation report (AIR-24-03). The report revealed the findings of a study of 116 fatal and 460 nonfatal accidents over 12 years (2010 to 2022). As a result of those findings, there is now a fresh set of safety recommendations that could lead to significant changes for Part 135 operators.

Safety issues identified in the July report included operational control and flight locating deficiencies, weight and balance concerns for single-engine aircraft, the importance of implementing organizational risk management strategies such as scalable safety management systems, and the use of flight data monitoring programs. In addition, the report identified a need for improvements in the collection of flight activity data for Part 135 certificate holders.

U.S. flight services group Helicopters Inc. is planning to add up to 50 of Eve Air Mobility’s four-passenger eVTOL aircraft to its fleet. Under a letter of intent signed on December 4, the rotorcraft operator also agreed to use Eve’s Vector air traffic management system when the eVTOLs enter service as well as the manufacturer’s TechCare product support program.

In 2022, Eve worked with Helicopters Inc. and Blade to run a simulation of eVTOL air taxi services using helicopters. These flights carried passengers between Vertiport Chicago and a pair of temporary “helistops” on the northwest and southwest sides of the city in Schaumberg and Tinley Park.

Cirrus Aircraft's Vision Jet is typically flown by owner pilots that have graduated from the company's popular SR-series of piston aircraft.

The company's executive director for the Vision Jet product line, Matt Bergwall, explained to BJT how the aircraft's advanced safety features, like the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System and Garmin Safe Return Emergency Autoland, work in simple terms.

Emirates has started taking deliveries of the 65 Airbus A350-900 widebody airliners the Gulf carrier has on order. The airline announced the first of the new arrivals on Wednesday as part of its plan to boost medium- and long-haul scheduled services from Dubai.

The flag carrier placed the big A350 order to support its broader plans to bolster Dubai’s latest Economic Agenda, which calls for more than 400 additional cities to have direct trade links with the emirate over the next decade. The new aircraft will operate from Emirates’ hub at Al Maktoum International Airport, which is part of the Dubai World Central development.

Honeywell, Bombardier Settle Dispute, Sign Technology Agreement

AIN Year-end Report 2024: Wilson S. Leach on the Year in Business Aviation

Gulfstream G800 Flight Test Begins Cabin Evaluation, Performance Checks

Industry Hopeful of Full Bonus Depreciation Return

Seattle-based Galvin Flying Ceases Operations after 94 Years

Canada Orders 19 PC-21s To Train Next Generation of Air Force Pilots