The U.S. Navy has updated its training fleet by taking delivery of a pair of  T-54A multi-engine training system (METS) aircraft based on the Beechcraft King Air 260 platform. The aircraft will replace the T-44C Pegasus, an earlier version of a militarized King Air that has been in use since 1977. The T-44C is slated to be phased out over the next year. READ MORE: Navy to Explore Use of eSTOL Aircraft, Issues Contract to Electra Last week the T-54As were flown from the factory in Wichita, Kansas, to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, where they will be used by Naval Air Training ..read more

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—Regent Craft, a manufacturer of all-electric seagliders that have garnered interest from U.S. military defense contractors, is eyeing the United Arab Emirates as a key market. Regent on Thursday announced it has signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transportation (DMT), with an eye toward building an electric seaglider ecosystem in the UAE. The manufacturer is targeting a “pilot operational campaign” in the country within the next few years. The annou ..read more

Each day, the team at Aircraft For Sale picks an airplane that catches our attention because it is unique, represents a good deal, or has other interesting qualities. You can read Aircraft For Sale: Today’s Top Pick at FLYINGMag.com daily. Today’s Top Pick is a 2007 Lancair ES-P Lancair is well known for the aerodynamically efficient, amateur-built experimental aircraft kits it produced for decades. Many of its most popular aircraft are compact, two-place machines that can be effective traveling airplanes as long as the occupants know how to pack lightly. The four-place ES models helped the c ..read more

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer Beta Technologies this week achieved a milestone few eVTOL companies have reached. The company on Tuesday said it completed a crewed, full transition flight of its Alia-250 (A250) eVTOL, shifting from vertical lift to forward cruise on fixed wings during the same flight. The model is one of two aircraft the firm is looking to commercialize in the coming years, along with a conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) Alia variant. Over four years of flight testing, Beta says its aircraft together have now logged more than 40,000 ..read more

Lately I am caught up in a self-induced battle between the realism of X-Plane 12 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS 2020). No better place to showcase this than in and out of one of the most famous airports in all of the sim kingdom, Innsbruck, Austria (LOWI).  Innsbruck is one of the most beautiful and spectacular places on earth with an airport that can support a variety of airline equipment up to a small widebody such as the Boeing 767-300ER. I have traveled to LOWI for my entire “sim life” but sadly haven’t been able to see it in person yet. To demonstrate this magnificent pla ..read more

Gulfstream Aerospace has delivered the first two G700s to U.S.-based customers and both are now in service, The deliveries come less than a month after Gulfstream received FAA type and production certification (March 29 and April 8, respectively) for the new, Rolls-Royce Pearl 700-powered G700. The engines have greater than 18,000 pounds of thrust, each. READ MORE: Gulfstream G700 Obtains FAA Certification The FAA nods, entry-into-service, and as many as 15 deliveries had been expected by the end of last year. But delays in the certification process, largely attributed to FAA staffing woes ..read more

“Can you accept the visual?” It is not uncommon for air traffic control to pose this question to pilots on IFR flight plans approaching certain airports when the weather is VFR. In daylight, when the visibility is good, the winds calm, and the pilot familiar with the airport—and the approach is a straight in—the visual is no big deal. But throw in weather, fatigue, low light, pilot unfamiliarity, and a circle to land, and it’s a different event. This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine If you’re not already a subscriber, what are you waiting for? Subscribe today to get the issue as s ..read more

The final rule on the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) is now expected sometime in 2025. When the comment period closed for the MOSAIC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in January, it was suggested that the final rule might be announced at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in late July, but that is no longer the expectation. “It is correct that early to mid-2025 is expected to be the announcement of the final rule,” said EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski. “That’s been no secret. We’ve been telling those who ask that, based on our conversations with the FAA ..read more

Rolls-Royce has landed its first  deal with low-cost carrier IndiGo, which has placed an order for 60 Trent XWB-84 engines, the manufacturer announced Thursday. IndiGo is India’s largest airline, flying 100 million passengers in 2023. “We are delighted to partner with Rolls-Royce for their future-ready Trent XWB engines as we expand our widebody aircraft fleet with an agreement to order a new fleet of A350-900 aircraft,” said Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo.  READ MORE: IndiGo Places Record Airbus Order According to Rolls-Royce, the Trent XWB is the “world’s most efficient large aero ..read more

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—Two titans in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi industry are building on their previously announced plans to serve the United Arab Emirates. At the inaugural DriftX conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, both headquartered in California, signed agreements with Abu Dhabi government agencies to introduce their respective air taxis in the Emirate. Archer signed a framework agreement with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which the company says includes hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, t ..read more