To paraphrase a famous American philosopher, predictions can be hard to make, especially when they’re about the future. But seeing the future of the entry-level business jet market 20 years ago, Cessna, with the creation of its seminal CitationJet, must have been watching the future in some late ’80s version of high definition. The airplane […]
In September, Gulfstream saw its hard work and investment in new products pay off in the certification of not one but two business jets: the remarkable, clean-sheet Gulfstream G650 and the nearly equally remarkable Gulfstream G280 supermidsize model. I had the privilege of being the first non-company or government pilot to fly the G280. As […]
Since its entry into service in 1996, the Cessna Model 750 Citation X (it is not the letter “X” but the Roman numeral 10) has occupied a special place in the bizjet world. It put its number in the books as a sleek midsize jet that could rocket coast to coast in the United States […]
When French company Socata launched the single-engine turboprop TBM 700 with Mooney in 1989, many observers wondered if the airplane would ever be anything more than an aerial oddity. That’s before people began to operate it and realized the many benefits of having a single Pratt & Whitney PT6 up front. That first TBM was […]
The first in a series of fly-ins that AOPA is calling a “grassroots effort” took place in San Marcos, Texas, this past Saturday, and the results were beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. The event raised the question, “can a fly-in be too big,” and punctuated it with a big “yes.” This one came close. With “more […]
The beginnings of any new flight segment is filled as much with dreams as with achievements, but one European company, Solar Flight, has been doing electrics for going on 25 years now. The company’s latest project, the Sunseeker Duo, made its first flight a few months ago and Solar Flight is now talking results. The […]
Avidyne’s long-awaited multifunction navigator, the IFD540, is nearing the finish line, and Flying was first to fly the new box. I went up with Avidyne flight test engineer Steve “Jake” Jacobson at Sun ‘n Fun 2014 to test out the new product. The IFD540 — that’s right, “540” is 10 more than 530, the number […]
At Sun ‘n Fun, Sporty’s and ForeFlight announced big enhancements to the Stratus 2 ADS-B receiver/AHRS unit. The Stratus 2 is a joint production of manufacturer Appareo, iOS app developer ForeFlight and founding partner Sporty’s. The new firmware for the Status 2 — there are no hardware changes — utilized a number of new strategies […]
To underscore its commitment to the inflight video segment, Sporty’s has launched a service, called MySolo, that takes your video and turns it into a finished, edited video with titles for $59.95. John Zimmerman, Sporty’s digital guru, told Flying that for that price all the customer has to do is upload the digital footage, specify […]
AKG, which has for more than 65 years produced professional audio products for music professionals from Frank Sinatra to Quincy Jones, has gotten in the aviation game with a light and cool looking headset, the AV100. The headset is completely purpose built; there aren’t any existing components from other AKG products. The headset has a […]
