Search Results for: fly high

Hangar wits at a loss for an original joke sometimes fall back on the time-tested quip that a liquid-cooled airplane makes as much sense as an air-cooled submarine. When several of them (wits, not submarines) are present, the observation that the problem with electric airplanes is that the extension cord gets twisted cannot be far […]

What comes to mind when you think of the National Business Aviation Association? If you say the NBAA represents traditional corporate flight departments with full-time professional pilots flying turbine-powered aircraft, you would be correct. At least that describes the core of the NBAA. But Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the hugely successful association, says […]

Since 2002 the bestselling certified single-engine airplane in the world has been the Cirrus SR22. More than 700 new Cirruses have been sold per year for the past two years, and the company hopes to sell 800 in 2008. The question is, how do they do that? How do you take on Cessna and Columbia […]

Back in the late 1970s, I was privileged to drive Battle of Britain hero Bob Stanford Tuck from Rhode Island to Boston to catch a flight back to his home in England. Almost 40 years after his last combat in a Spitfire, Tuck astounded me with his eyesight — identifying species of distant birds “judging […]

For pilots returning eastbound from EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, the VFR choices include skirting Chicago to the west (adding a lot of distance and time to the trip); hugging a few miles off the coastline at 3,500 feet or lower; or climbing high and going direct across Lake Michigan. Assuming a tailwind (most of us […]

The super-midsize Hawker 4000 business jet received final FAA certification earlier this summer and the company began deliveries. The airplane has a carbon fiber fuselage with 6-foot headroom and a flat floor and is, in most respects, the most advanced midsize jet in service. The rudder, steering and brakes all are fly-by-wire controlled, and the […]

In January of last year, the nose baggage door of a Cessna CE-525 CitationJet opened during takeoff from Van Nuys Airport. Moments later, the jet crashed into an empty lot in a residential neighborhood just north of the airport, killing both pilots. As you might expect at a busy airport, many people who knew something […]

Embraer surprised the press gathered at the European Business Aviation Conference (EBACE) in Geneva in May when it announced that it will conduct final assembly of some of its new Phenom 100 and 300 light jets in Melbourne, Florida. Before the announcement the company had said it would deliver the new jets only at its […]

Last Thursday, Cirrus’ single-engine personal jet flew for the first time. The 45-minute test flight was the first of a series to establish “verification and validation” of the proof-of-concept airframe, now dubbed V1 for that reason, according to Cirrus Chairman and CEO Alan Klapmeier. But the name also references the unique jet’s V-tail configuration, which […]