AirVenture Time Capsule: 2011

2011 was a busy year for AirVenture. Aviation apps on mobile devices were gaining popularity and avionics manufacturers were taking notice. Aspen introduced its "Connected Panel," which for the first time allowed app data like flight plans and frequencies to be transferred to Aspen avionics displays. Data was transmitted via Wi-Fi, USB or Bluetooth. Also on the app front, Jeppesen introduced en route mapping and flight planning with its new Jeppesen Mobile Flight Deck app and said it was looking to add flight planning and overlaid weather in the future.

Flight Design announced that it was branching out from light sport planes to develop a certified, $250,000, four-place aircraft it called the C4. After a series of delays, the C4 first flew in 2015. Development was suspended when Flight Design entered receivership the following year. The company was purchased in 2017 and the new owners have said that they intend to go forward with an updated version of the design.

Another aircraft that debuted that year was the Aerostar Jet. The jet, which used a piston-powered Aerostar airframe and added Pratt & Whitney PW615F engines, could cruise at 340 knots at 85 percent power and climb at 5,000 feet per minute. The prototype first flew in 2010, but the aircraft never completed the certification process and the project seems to have been abandoned.

Also at the show, EAA held a flying car drive-in complete with 1950s-style curb service, Boeing brought the not-yet-certified 787 Dreamliner (FAA and EASA type certification came in August 2011 with the aircraft entering service the following October) and the U.S. Navy celebrated 100 years of naval aviation by arriving with an even wider variety of naval aircraft than usual.