by Isabel Goyer

Diamond Aircraft has made the first flight of its new all-composite twin-engine model, the DA52. First flight, made by Diamond Chairman Christian Dries and Diamond test pilot Ingmar Mayerbuch, went off without a hitch. In fact, after the flight Dries said that the DA52 was “the best prototype aircraft I have ever made a maiden […]

Start up LSA manufacturer Terrafugia reached an important milestone the other week with the first flight of the production prototype version of its roadable airplane, called the Transition. The short sortie — it lasted but eight minutes and went only as high as 1,400 feet agl within the vicinity of the Plattsburg, New York, airport […]

At Sun ‘n Fun Aspen Avionics was showing off its CG100 Connected Panel product in its Cirrus SR22. The device, which goes behind the panel and links to an iPad or other devices via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB, goes for around $2,500. Aspen expects it to be certified soon. Connected Panel allows the pilot to […]

Flying a specially outfitted Pipistrel Virus, Slovenian pilot Matevž Lenarčič topped Mount Everest on the Nepal side of the summit at an altitude of 29,344 feet. The Pipistrel is outfitted with a turbocharged, intercooled Rotax 914 engine and Matevž was breathing oxygen through a custom pressurized delivery system. The team at Pipistrel had calculated that […]

Garmin this week unveiled its latest app, Garmin Pilot, which is available immediately in the Apple App Store. The app brings dozens of enhancements, an all new flight planning interface, a remarkably handy little bulls-eye waypoint inspector and a menu system based on the one on its touchscreen GTN navigators and G5000 panel-mount systems. Our […]

At Sun ‘n Fun Socata unveiled a new model designation for its TBM 850 turboprop — dubbed the TMB 850 Elite — with a new convertible seating configuration for greatly improved cargo carrying capability. The configuration change, which takes only 15 minutes to make, takes the center seats, which normally face to the rear in […]

On the first day of Sun ‘n Fun, Avidyne President and CEO Dan Schwinn announced that his company was pursuing a number of certifications for its DFC90 digital autopilot. In addition to the Cirrus SR20 and SR22, for which Avidyne earned STC approval last year, the company will pursue certification for the Cessna 182, Beech […]

The launch of the 2012 Cirrus SR22 is noteworthy thanks to a couple of new features but even more so because, in aggregate, this is the year that the Cirrus SR22 has really arrived at the top of the heap. Back in the 1960s, the launches of a new model year’s airplanes used to be […]

GlobalNavSource, a Florida company that does certification and testing of the iPad for aviation use, has reported that the latest iteration of the tablet computer, which Apple is just calling the iPad, has passed rapid decompression testing to 51,000 feet. The test is necessary, says the company, in order to confirm that the pilots have […]

Cirrus Aircraft has told Flying that it won’t be at next week’s Sun ‘n Fun fly-in in Lakeland, Florida. The company knows that the decision will prompt rumors, and it’s right. We’ve already started hearing them. Any time a major single-engine airplane manufacturer skips one of the country’s major airshows, the result is often suspicion […]