Aircraft

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 […]

In an action meant to address an “unsafe condition” on Diamond twins using these engines, the FAA published an airworthiness directive on July 27, that applies to certain Austro Engine GmbH model E4s and all E4P engines. The directive follows up on reports of “considerable wear of the timing chain on the affected engines,” according […]

Dan Johnson told me, “The first light-sport airplane arrived in the U.S. in April 2005. The first two FAA-accepted special light-sport aircraft were announced…almost exactly 15 years ago.” Johnson reviews recreational aircraft and posts those reports on his site, bydanjohnson.com. A flight school needs to use an S-LSA in order to operate a light-sport aircraft […]

The Icon A5 amphibian isn’t for everyone. It’s not very fast. It doesn’t really carry all that much, and it can’t fly a four-hour leg non-stop. But flying the light-sport Icon is one heck of a lot of fun when you’re able to peel off from cruising flight at 500 feet above a favorite lake […]

You may not believe it—unless you’ve been shopping for a used Cessna 182 or its like over the last few months—but the general aviation used aircraft market has stayed relatively strong throughout the first half of 2020, according to industry representatives from insurance brokers to aircraft brokers. Now may be a really good time for […]