Aircraft

An anonymous bidder who offered $2.615 million last Friday was named the winner of Sporty’s Vision Jet auction at AirVenture, a partnership idea between the world-famous pilot shop and Cirrus Aircraft. Sporty’s offered its early delivery position of a Cirrus Vision Jet with a plan to hand over any dollar amount above the airplane’s $1,927,653 […]

Flight Design, the European manufacturer of light sport airplanes, has completed the sale of all major company assets to the German investment group Lift Holding, allowing for the resumption of work on the C4, a Part 23-certified four-seater with a projected selling price of $250,000. The newly realigned company, which entered receivership last year, will […]

The new owners of Lancair International, father and son team Mark and Conrad Huffstutler, brought their first offering to Oshkosh to put on display at EAA’s AirVenture. The four-seat composite Mako is an experimental alternative to the Cirrus SR22 or Cessna TTx. While the main gear is fixed, the Mako incorporates an optional retractable nose-gear […]

After a rough couple of years for Icon Aircraft, the California maker of the A5 light sport amphibian, the company now says it’s ready to turn its attention to high-rate production that should see as many as 200 airplanes produced and delivered in 2018. Icon handed over the first six airplanes in June and July […]

Demonstrating the performance and fuel efficiency of its SMA-powered compression-ignition Cessna 182 Skylane, Soloy Aviation Solutions flew nonstop to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from its home base in Olympia, Washington, a 1,485 nautical mile trip. The SMA SR305-230E engine consumed 80 gallons of jet-A for the flight, crewed by Soloy pilot Tony Uhl and […]

Breitling’s DC-3 is in the middle of its record-breaking world tour, which started in March and ends in September, making a stop at AirVenture Oshkosh and hitting its last stops before its final destination of the Breitling Sion Airshow in Switzerland. The DC-3, at 77 years old, will be the oldest plane to circumnavigate the […]

King Air 350 owners and those considering a King Air purchase got some good news yesterday at EAA AirVenture as several companies announced performance-enhancing modifications for the largest version of Beechcraft’s twin turboprop series. Hartzell Propeller and Raisbeck Engineering have partnered to create a supplemental type certificate for a swept five-blade composite propeller. The propeller […]

Another would-be flying car has hit the market, this one a three-wheeler with an unusual folding-wing concept that solves the problem of what to do with the wings in driving mode but presents a potential problem of how to handle crosswind landings. Called the Switchblade, the Experimental kitplane from a Northern California company called Samson […]

After months of debate and speculation, we have a winner. Honda Aircraft received the inaugural Flying Innovation Award on Monday night at a party in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hosted by the magazine on the picturesque shores of Lake Winnebago. In awarding the prize, Flying Editor-in-Chief Stephen Pope said the HondaJet was selected as the first Flying […]

Piper has grounded the in-service fleet of M600 single-engine turboprops after production workers identified a section of the aft wing spar that did not meet designed measurement tolerances. Piper notified the FAA of the discrepancy and ordered wing spar inspections to determine if the issue affects other airplanes, according to Piper CEO Simon Caldecott, who […]