Born in the U.S. during the early business jet rush, the Jet Commander fell victim to American corporate laws but found a ready home in Israel, where the design flourished. Its derivatives later made a triumphant return to U.S. ownership, forming the basis of the smaller aircraft in Gulfstream’s prestigious range.

In the late 1940s, aeronautical engineer Ted Smith schemed a light piston twin aimed at the private and business aviation markets. The Model 520 bore a resemblance to the Douglas A-26 Invader bomber, upon which Smith had worked during World War II, but was smaller and sleeker. Its flat-six engines were also far more efficient—and cleaner—than the Invader’s radials.

Jack Sweeney was excited to receive a direct message from Elon Musk that read, “Can you take this down? It’s a security risk.” This was in response to Sweeney’s posts on X (formerly Twitter) about Musk’s travels on his Gulfstream G650ER.

Musk is one of many private jet users whose flight activity Sweeney has posted. They include Mark Zuckerberg, Taylor Swift, Jeff Bezos, Drake, Ron DeSantis, and even Russian oligarchs. At one point before he was suspended for doxing real-time locations of people, he had more than 500,000 followers on X.

An incident on May 4, 2006, in which a Hawker 800A lost more than 10,000 feet during a post-maintenance stall test underscores the potential risks of stalling swept-wing jets. The Hawker recovered after what the pilot said was a four- to five-g pullout.

The airplane had undergone maintenance at Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, Nebraska, before the flight, according to NTSB investigator-in-charge Tim Sorenson. Raytheon Aircraft owned the Hawker, having taken it as a trade on a sale, a Raytheon Aircraft spokesman told AIN. The Hawker had undergone a pre-purchase inspection, though neither Raytheon nor Duncan Aviation would comment on whether Duncan mechanics had done any work on the Hawker’s wing.

Universal Weather and Aviation is seeing an uptick in interest in long-range business jet ownership in the Asia-Pacific region.

Aligned with the heightened expectations for the 2024 Singapore Airshow, Universal Weather and Aviation’s ground-handling arm Universal Aviation is witnessing a growing interest in Asia-Pacific for long-range business jets, with operators there expressing a strong inclination to own more than one aircraft. Despite this, the economic outlook will temper the purchasing power, with many looking for a good deal, Universal regional director for Asia-Pacific Yvonne Chan told AIN.

When former NFL football star and current Fox NFL Sunday sports analyst Terry Bradshaw enters a room, heads turn. Everyone recognizes the beefy, six-foot-three longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback whose hands seem almost as big as baseball mitts and who has one of the most powerful arms in NFL history. 

Having played for 14 seasons with the Steelers and led them to four Super Bowl wins and eight AFC Central championships, he has since become one of his sport’s most popular—and most active—retired stars. Besides co-hosting Fox NFL Sunday since 1994, Bradshaw has coauthored five books, recorded country western and gospel songs, and had cameo acting roles in TV shows.

The FAA has granted rival eVTOL developers Joby and Archer the Part 145 repair station certificates they will need to perform maintenance on the eVTOL air taxis they aim to bring to market in 2025. The companies are believed to be among the first eVTOL manufacturers to earn Part 145 authorization.

Joby and Archer, both of which are based in California, aim to launch and operate their own commercial air taxi services with their respective four-passenger eVTOL air taxis after they obtain FAA type certification, which they expect to earn by the end of this year.

Six accidents involving U.S.-registered business jets killed 23 people last year versus zero fatalities in 2022, according to preliminary statistics gathered by AIN. Five occurred under Part 91, killing 15, and one charter accident accounted for eight fatalities last year.

Three fatal accidents of non-U.S.-registered business jets killed nine last year, down from four such accidents and 17 fatalities in 2022. The August 23 crash of a Legacy 600 in Russia is not included because suspicion of malfeasance persists in what downed the twinjet.

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