Aircraft

What should an aircraft manufacturer do with a talented engineering team that just wrapped up the successful certification test program for a jet that would go on to win the Collier Trophy and Flying Innovation Award in the same year? One option would be to put them straight back to work developing the next iteration […]

Long before I became a pilot, I read something somewhere about the extreme dangers of shock cooling a piston aircraft engine. The article didn’t specify which engines. It tossed a large, wet blanket over every Lycoming and Continental ever made. The idea of cylinders cracking on a steep descent with all that cold air passing […]

When Southwest Airlines reported its quarterly earnings last week, the company included a $428 million payment received from Boeing to cover a variety of ongoing issues surrounding the grounded 737 MAX aircraft. The MAX has been grounded since March 2019 following two accidents, one in 2018, the other in 2019. Southwest had already accepted delivery […]

In a week of updates for the company, Embraer unveiled a medevac version of the Phenom 300 series—aptly called the Phenom 300MED—on August 4, and it presented its second-quarter financial results on August 5. Embraer talked to Flying about the proposed medevac model during our flight test of the newest 300E back in March—and the […]

Virgin Galactic Holdings on August 3 announced—in collaboration with Rolls-Royce as the powerplant provider—the creation of a new Mach 3 commercial aircraft. Virgin Galactic Holdings includes a spaceship manufacturing arm. There’s no small amount of irony that Virgin Galactic made its announcement of its futuristic travel machine within hours of sister Virgin empire organization, Virgin […]

In a response to customer feedback—and a desire to push well-loved members of its product line forward—Textron Aviation announced on August 4 the new flagship of the Beechcraft line, the King Air 360 and 360ER. With autothrottles, better pressurization, and increased cabin comfort, the latest King Air aims for easing pilot workload, and turning a […]

Asset Insight, a valuations, audits, analytics, and consulting firm that produces reports on the valuations and marketability of business class aircraft, has released their Q2 2020 Asset Insight AI2 Market Report. The report shows a “considerable” drop in the asking price of many preowned aircraft during Q2 2020, while stating that “days on market” increased […]

Epic Aircraft announced on July 23 that it had obtained the production certificate on the E1000 turboprop from the FAA, allowing for it to manufacture and flight test the airplane with a reduced presence from the agency. “Achieving [the] FAA Production Certificate is tremendous milestone,” said Epic Aircraft CEO Doug King. “It is a rigorous […]

After more than 50 years since its first flight, the Boeing 747 faces the end of the production line. The Boeing Company indicated during its second quarter earnings report on July 29 that the company would end production of the 747 four-engine jumbo jet in 2022. The Commercial Airplanes division delivered 20 airplanes during the quarter, with a reported […]

Hondo, Texas-based Texas Aircraft Manufacturing and British lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery technology company OXIS Energy, said they are jointly developing a high-wing, two-seat, all metal, fully-electric aircraft dubbed the eColt based on Texas Aircraft’s Colt S-LSA. In a news release, Texas Aircraft said, “The eColt will fill a growing demand for ecologically-friendly flight training airplanes, as […]