Aircraft

Daher once again surprised the aviation world last week by announcing a new model of the TBM single-engine turboprop — a model that is already FAA and EASA certified. The TBM 930 was announced at a press conference at the company’s Sun ‘n Fun exhibit as the cover was taken off the new model to […]

Lancair has delivered the first piston-powered Evolution, equipped with a fadec-controlled Lycoming iE2 engine rated at 350 horsepower. The piston Evolution is designed around the same carbon fiber airframe as the turbine version, minus the firewall forward section. With a 168-gallon fuel tank that is necessary to feed the turbine-powered Evolution, the range of the […]

Daher, maker of the TBM 900 single-engine turboprop, unveiled the newest model in its of line business turboprops on Tuesday. But don’t expect to be able to walk over to the Daher exhibit at Sun ‘n Fun for a gander at the new TBM 930. The latest TBM model with Garmin G3000 touch-screen avionics is […]

Glasair announced yesterday that it has achieved SLSA approval for its Merlin light sport aircraft. While the Arlington, Washington-based company has been in the business of making experimental airplanes since the 1980s, including the Sportsman four-seat airplane built through the two-weeks-to-taxi program, Merlin is Glasair’s first production airplane. Merlin will not be offered as an […]

On May 1, she will turn 70 years old and, I am not exaggerating, she is just as beautiful today as she was on the day I first met her. That was 50 years ago, and I swear she has changed very little. Boy, do I wish I could say the same for me! What can I […]

A new airship-like aircraft called Airlander 10, produced out of Great Britain by Hybrid Air Vehicles, is being readied for its first flight, which the company hopes to achieve this spring. The engines, fuel module, payload beam (added to carry external cargo), fins and what the company has termed the mission module — the cockpit […]

As Piper prepares for the market introduction of the M600 single-engine turboprop, scheduled to receive its FAA certification stamp of approval in the third quarter, the Vero Beach, Florida, company is dropping the prices and adding features to its other M-class models to make them more attractive to buyers. The Pratt & Whitney PT6A-powered M500’s […]

When legendary airplane designer Burt Rutan announced his retirement in 2011, a collective gasp rang through the aviation industry. Airplane enthusiasts wanted to see more of Rutan’s ingenious and sometimes whacky designs. Fortunately it wasn’t long before a sigh of relief followed the shock when details emerged of Rutan’s latest project — SkiGull. SkiGull is […]

Two years after Bell Helicopter announced the 505 Jet Ranger X, the company has made progress toward the certification of the five-seat light single-engine helicopter. Five hundred seventy-five hours of flight testing have been completed on three test platforms since the first flight in November 2014, and Bell Helicopter expects certification by the end of […]

Almost exactly two years after AgustaWestland unveiled the AW109 Trekker at the 2014 Heli-Expo in Anaheim, California, the helicopter has made its first flight. The inaugural flight was successfully completed at the Finmeccanica helicopter division in Cascina Costa, Italy. Test pilots Giuseppe Afruni and Giuseppe Segreto took the controls of the Trekker and tested the […]