Aircraft

Each year, we at Flying select a small handful of products, companies or organizations that have had a positive impact on general aviation during the previous year. It’s the stamp of approval pilots look for when shopping for avionics, making aircraft-purchase decisions, or trying to separate merely good products from great ones. But it’s more […]

Many voices crowded the advisory frequency as I approached Paso Robles, but by the time I was on the 45 the other pilots had landed and silence reigned. I landed long on 19, turned off at the end, and found a parking spot at the end of a long line of visitors to the annual […]

Last week the Museum of Flying at Santa Monica Airport celebrated the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the Douglas DC-3, a flight that took off from SMO on December 17, 1935. A ceremony was held at the newly renovated DC-3 monument right outside the main entrance to the museum. The monument was first […]

Why grab the window seat when you could just ride on top of the airplane? Adding entertainment value to private jets and airliners, Windspeed Technologies’ new SkyDeck design concept boasts an in-flight experience like no other. Conceptual designs show a teardrop-shaped canopy positioned toward the top rear of the aircraft, which offers passengers a full […]

Elon Musk’s SpaceX made history Monday night by being the first to launch a rocket into space and bring it back down for a perfect landing, a feat that allows the rocket to be used again and again. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 8:35 p.m., deploying 11 OrbComm satellites into low-Earth orbit before […]

If you’ve been looking for an airplane that fits a tight budget, the Merlin PSA may be just what you need. Lakeland, Florida-based Aeromarine LSA says the one-seat Experimental Amateur-Built (A-EB) airplane can be put together at the company’s facilities in about two weeks at the very light price point of $34,900. After that, all […]

The Airbus Perlan Mission 2, a project that aims to take a glider to the very edge of space next year to gain scientific insight into the Earth’s upper atmosphere and perhaps lay the groundwork for eventual flights on Mars, celebrated the opening of the new Dennis Tito Perlan 2 Hangar at Minden/Tahoe Municipal Airport […]

The Tecnam P2010, a new high-wing four-seat single produced in Italy, is coming to U.S. shores at last after the FAA awarded the airplane’s Part 23 type certificate. Carrying a base price of $345,000, the P2010 is priced slightly below competitors’ airplanes, namely the Cessna Skyhawk, Piper Archer and Diamond DA40. Performance is similar to […]

I’m contemplating taking a hammer to my toy quadcopter and smashing it to pieces after the FAA on Monday announced new rules requiring most drone owners to register their UAVs in a national database and pay a $5 fee every three years. It’s not that I disagree with the registration requirement. I’m fine with the […]

The National Park Service conducted a series of tests last week to determine the amount of noise produced by electric-powered aircraft and compared them to the noise levels produced by conventional aircraft. Aero Electric Aircraft Corporation’s Sun Flyer overflew the Centennial Airport (KAPA) just south of Denver while representatives from the National Park Service gathered […]