Aircraft

French airplane maker VoltAero has begun flight testing on a hybrid-electric-powered airplane series called Cassio. The Cassio 1 testbed is powered by two electric motors, mounted on the wings, and two piston engines—a pusher and a puller—on the fuselage. The testbed looks like a Cessna 337 Skymaster and has a seating configuration for six people. […]

Transport Canada and the FAA are looking for input on the operation of the cargo doors on certain models of the Cessna 206, particularly those involving floatplane installations. An August 2018 accident in the Northwest Territories, Canada, trigged the request. The pilot of the Simpson Air Limited Cessna U206G had four passengers on board the […]

Effective March 9, 2020, the FAA has released an airworthiness directive calling for the inspection of Cessna 210s in a specific model range, to determine the presence of corrosion and evidence of fatigue in the carry-through spar lower cap and carrying out mitigating preventative maintenance. The AD comes as the result of an in-flight breakup […]

If you’ve ever ridden the North 40 tram at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh out past the Forums buildings and noticed a line of beautiful custom-painted experimental airplanes parked next to each other on the east side of the road just north of the Forums, that was aviation airbrush artist John Stahr’s flying art gallery. With […]

One highlight of last fall’s NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas was the media extravaganza created when Gulfstream Aerospace unveiled a mockup of its newest airplane, the G700, an ultra-long-range business jet able to fly as many as eight passengers up to 7,500 nm. The Vegas stage built to Gulfstream’s specification at Henderson Executive Airport included five […]

Following a well-publicized ground fire on December 27, 2019, beginning in the cabin of a Cirrus Vision Jet in Santa Monica, the company released a service bulletin (SBA5X-23-03) on February 7 to correct the problem, which was traced to a potential malfunction of the audio interface circuit card that could have resulted in the overheating […]

Stans, Switzerland-based Pilatus Aircraft has become the first business jet manufacturer to achieve something many expected would be impossible—certification for rough field operations—for its PC-24 Super Versatile Jet. Since 2018, the bizjet has been certified to land on dry sand and gravel, but complete rough field certification allows the PC-24 to land on additional surfaces, […]

Back in 1997, Steve Jobs challenged the world to “Think Different,” as he and his team of engineers invented a line of desktop computers that turned the industry on its head. Jobs was not only an engineer, he was a visionary, able to marry his intense quest for innovation with forward-thinking creativity. Great engineers can […]

If you’ve ever attended the Stihl National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport west of Reno, Nevada, you know the event brands itself as “the fastest motorsport on earth,” with the slogan “fly low, fly fast, turn left.” Low and slow has never factored into the equation since the races began decades ago. But […]

Brazilian airplane maker Embraer has announced an upgraded version of its Phenom 300 light business jet. The Phenom 300E has reached Mach 0.80, which, the company claims, makes the airplane the fastest single-pilot business jet on the market. High-speed cruise for the Phenom 300E is listed at 464 knots, an increase from 453 knots in […]