J. Mac McClellan

What a world. I had just landed the Dornier Seastar flying boat in the Gulf of Mexico a few miles off the Florida coast. We shut down the engines and were sitting on top of the Seastar cabin enjoying the view and wishing for a fishing pole when Dornier Seaplane Co. CEO Joe Walker called […]

Collins’ New Pro Line Fusion avionics system that will debut in the Bombardier Global Express has all the features you would expect in a top-of-the-line flat-glass avionics system. The displays are huge; the synthetic vision view of the terrain ahead of the airplane is sharp and detailed; and there are innovative formats to display weather […]

For the second time in a week, Gulfstream rolled out a new model of business jet when the super midsize G250 taxied briskly into view of a crowd at Israel Aerospace Industries in Tel Aviv in early October. The G250, which is owned by Gulfstream, will be assembled by IAI and then flown to Gulfstream […]

When I first heard that Learjet would build its new Model 85 entirely from composite materials, I wondered what management there was thinking. So far there has not been an FAR Part 25 transport airplane built even mostly from composites. And the history of turbine-powered composite airplanes is sketchy at best. The Starship, of course, […]

I believe all of us would declare Cessna’s new 162 SkyCatcher light sport airplane (LSA) to be a success if it flew about as well as the legendary 150/152 series of two-seat trainers. I’m happy to say the 162 flies as well as, and in some respects better than, the 150/152 and also has a […]

I have been to dozens of new airplane rollouts in the last 30-plus years, and I was amazed when the all-new Gulfstream G650 taxied into view at a rollout ceremony in late September under its own power. That just doesn’t happen. Rollout ceremonies are usually a party to show that the airplane is getting close, […]

It was odd that, as I taxied out in the number three prototype of the Diamond D-Jet, the last thing on my mind was that there is only one engine. As with any other business jet you can’t see the engines, and the sounds and sensations of one jet engine spinning away are the same […]

The great thing about Oshkosh is that everybody who is anybody in aviation is there, and in that environment hanging around the world’s busiest airport for a week, there is plenty of time to talk. Because of the variety of people and the time we all have, I probably learn more at Oshkosh than any […]

Hawker Beechcraft is in the odd position of having two Hawker jets in its lineup that are many generations apart. The Hawker 4000 is a high-tech, super midsize jet with a carbon-fiber fuselage and the latest in system sophistication. The Hawker 900XP is the newest version of one of the very first business-jet designs. This […]

Airplanes can live such extraordinary lives; it seems that many will never die. Martha Lunken reminds us frequently that 70-year-old DC-3s are still flying and working for a living. The B-52 bombers are often twice the age of their pilots but the old Boeing flies on. And 50-year-old Bonanzas are not exactly rare. The remarkable […]