Flying Staff

The latest version of the venerable Hawker line of business jets, the 900XP, has been certified and deliveries have begun. The 900XP airframe is unchanged from the previous 850XP model with winglets, but new, more powerful Honeywell TFE731-50R engines increase range and speed while chopping runway requirements. The new engines give the 900XP a 2,800 […]

The most exciting news to come out of the big Oshkosh AirVenture show last July was that Cessna committed to building a light-sport airplane, the Model 162. The new two-seater will have a standard price of $109,500 complete with an exclusive Garmin flat-panel glass cockpit, a price well below half of any other Cessna single. […]

Four to five years ago it looked like the turboprop was on its way out. Prices of used turboprops were in freefall, and the sales of the few turboprop twins still in production were slumping. Vref, a leading aircraft value reference, reported that an index of average selling prices forpopular used turboprops lost 25 percent […]

“Show me how to start the engine, and I can fly anything,” is a boast I’ve heard from several pilots, and not all of whom I’d consider the best “stick” at the aerodrome. ‘Course, if you can’t start it, you can’t fly it. I once rented a Cessna 150 for a flight with my sister, […]

The currently controversial theory of “peak oil” holds that the top of the curve of world oil production – a barrels-per-day arc that rises with demand until it begins to fall because of dwindling supplies – either has already been reached or will be soon. Whatever side of the argument you’re on – there are […]