Aircraft

There comes a time in most pilots’ lives when they’re faced with a tough decision: continue renting an airplane from a local flight school or club, or buy one of their own. Maybe there’s a sweet little bird you’ve had your eye on already. You’ve chatted with the insurance agent, you’ve looked into hangar or […]

Canada’s Harbour Air said last week that it wants to convert its entire fleet of seaplanes into an all-electric commercial fleet through a partnership with a U.S. company. The airline plans to use a 750-hp all electric motor being created by Redmond, Washington-based magni500 to convert its DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver, a six-passenger commercial aircraft […]

The ultralong-range Gulfstream G650ER set another record last week when it flew non-stop from Singapore to Tucson, Arizona, in 15 hours, 23 minutes at an average speed of 597 mph over the 8,379 nm route. The G650 beat the previous speed record on this segment by 44 minutes and landed in Tucson with NBAA IFR […]

Kerrville, Texas-based Mooney Aircraft announced at Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland, Florida, that is expanding its Mooney Factory Service Centers and customer support offerings. The company is working on an hourly cost program for engine service for the two models it currently produces: the Ovation Ultra and Acclaim Ultra. Named PistonPower, the program would allow […]

Nearly everyone who attends an airshow or has visited an aviation museum has probably envisioned themselves waving to people on the side of the taxiway from the cockpit of one of the airplanes they’ve seen. Some lean toward the North American B-25 “Mitchell” bomber, made famous by General Jimmy Doolittle and his band of 16 […]

During his first airshow for the season, not including the Red Bull Air Race season starter in Abu Dhabi in March, Michael Goulian unveiled a new bold design on his aerobatic Extra 330SC airplane. After Whelen’s aviation division merged with LoPresti Aviation to form Whelen Aerospace Technologies (WAT), Goulian’s look was rebranded to fit his […]

The Chipper SS, Chipper Aero’s newest kitplane for the amateur-built market arrives at Sun n’ Fun late Tuesday from Wichita, in time to strut its short takeoff and landing (STOL) stuff for the crowds through the weekend. Belite Aircraft company president James Wiebe said, “We continued to hear the call for a Part 103 (ultralight) […]

The Slovenian aircraft builder Pipistrel says it just passed a number of major milestones. The first is celebrating their 30th year in business, that the company just sold it’s 1,000th aircraft from the Sinus/Virus family and finally, that the aircraft is headed to Suriname, bringing the company’s international country total to 96. Pipistrel is a […]

I have been inclined to class electric airliners, along with personal jet packs, among the consumer products that will always be almost here. My estimates of the likely future, however, have almost an inverse predictive value: If I say something is utterly impracticable, it will very likely be for sale at Walmart next year. The […]

Rolls-Royce has begun ground testing a hybrid propulsion system using its M250 gas turbine engine for helicopters that the company says will clear the way for experimental flights on aircraft within two years. The company said it successfully tested the hybrid-electric version of the M250 gas turbine in a ground demonstration setting using three operating […]