Search Results for: Citation X

The title of this article is a bit strange, so I will explain. For six years I was “engaged” to an Eclipse VLJ, but the romance dissolved when the originally promised range did not materialize. I sold my delivery position (see the July 2008 Flying article “My Torrid Affair with a VLJ”). I continued to […]

Despite the widespread adoption of Garmin’s integrated avionics systems in a variety of airplanes from four-place piston singles to turboprops and business jets, never before has the company’s G1000 glass cockpit flown in a helicopter. The conventional wisdom has always seemed to argue against shoehorning Garmin’s wide LCD flight displays into the tight confines of […]

__A search for the word hypoxia in NTSB accident reports for the past decade turns up just 15 occurrences. Of these, five do not involve our usual understanding of hypoxia as incapacitation due to protracted exposure to high altitude without supplemental oxygen; the references are, instead, to carbon monoxide poisoning from a leaky muffler, elderly […]

__Flight level 280 in a TBM 850 was just perfect for us coming out of Peachtree in Georgia, headed down to cozy North Perry Airport near Fort Lauderdale in south Florida. On a really long trip we could have climbed up to FL 310, lost a few knots, saved a few gallons per hour and […]

In the last five years, a new crop of small light jets (I promise not to call them VLJs, or very light jets) has entered the marketplace. Aircraft such as the Cessna Model 510 Mustang, Embraer Phenom 100, and yes, the Eclipse 500 are now out there in the hundreds, and they have carved a successful market niche, albeit not the one envisioned by some observers. These airplanes are designed to be flown by single pilots and its fair to ask whether or not our training and safety model for these airplanes will be up to the task. The record so far looks good but we need to look below the surface for the entire story. We should be looking at a cohort of airplanes that are destined for an excellent safety record, if we assume they will reflect the record of previous turbojet models certified for single-pilot operations.

At about 1841 Pacific time, the airplane sustained substantial damage during a gear-up landing. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. Visual conditions prevailed and an IFR flight plan was filed for the Part 135 on-demand cargo flight. The pilot later said he aborted his first landing attempt due to strong winds. He stayed in the airport traffic pattern. During his second landing attempt, he was just about to flare when “things didnt feel right” and he aborted that landing.

In a move that has sent shockwaves through the industry, Textron has parted ways with the highly respected chairman and CEO of its subsidiary Cessna Aircraft, Jack Pelton. The news was announced on Cessna’s Twitter feed and in a Textron news release on Monday afternoon. Pelton had earlier in the day sent a farewell internal […]

Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line Fusion next-gen avionics system has earned FAA TSO approval, the first and biggest step toward putting it in the cockpits of new bizjets. The system represents a huge leap for Collins, which has in Fusion created a scalable, fully digital upgradable suite that is certain to be the basis for numerous […]

The lingering recession continues to make life difficult for airplane manufacturers, and Wichita giant Cessna Aircraft is no exception. Revenue at Cessna rose about 26 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, but low production and delivery levels contributed to an operating loss for the quarter of $38 million. On […]

Cutting-edge turbine engine technology is changing the face of aviation — and making the world a much smaller place. Here’s how.