Aircraft

It has been more than three decades since the first certified composite airplane, the Windecker Eagle, last took to the skies. But last week the restored single-engine retractable flew for the first time since an extensive restoration project began. Test pilot Len Fox was at the controls when the airplane lifted off Runway 28 at […]

It was a beautiful day. Light winds. Clear skies. Towering, snowcapped Rocky Mountain peaks surrounded the 9,000-foot runway at Eagle, Colorado, from which I was about to depart. I was at the controls of a Pilatus PC-12, a sizable single-engine turboprop built to carry thousands of pounds of people or gear. Today we were light. […]

Build A Plane and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced they are hosting their fourth Aviation Design Challenge to promote STEM education among high school students. The competition, which has spanned 38 states in the past three years, will be open to the first 100 schools that enter. Only one four-member team — including […]

Laughter, tears and many standing ovations filled one of HondaJet’s hangars at its headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, as a huge crowd of onlookers celebrated the FAA type certification of the light jet. HondaJet employees and suppliers; federal, state, and city government officials; and media watched as a humbled Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of […]

The most accurate reproduction of Charles Lindbergh’s famed Spirit of St. Louis ever built made its first test flight on Saturday when Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum pilot and aircraft restorer/builder Ken Cassens took the replica Ryan NYP into the bright blue skies over upstate New York. “It was uneventful, which is a good thing, and I […]

Daher delivered the 100th TBM 900 20 months after the latest version of the hugely successful single-engine turboprop model entered service. The TBM 900 is an upgraded version of the TBM 850, which itself is a refresh of the first-generation TBM 700. Daher developed the $3.8 million TBM 900 over three years at its base […]

Robinson’s turbine-powered five-seat R66 helicopter has passed testing required by the FAA and Transport Canada to fly in snow conditions. Flying in falling or blowing snow has been prohibited per the R66 Pilot’s Operating Handbook, but with this recent successful test the restriction has been lifted. To qualify, the R66 had to perform in some […]

Before people were fortunate enough to have access to powered airplanes, pilots supported their flying addictions by taking off in basic open gliders. Even after the event of powered flight, people would fly gliders as it was a less expensive way to take to the skies. And the peace and quiet of powerless flight is […]

Solar Impulse has finally raised enough money — $20 million — to resume its record-setting round-the-world trip, according to co-founder and pilot André Borschberg, who spoke at the United Nations climate summit in Paris. The solar-powered aircraft has been parked in Hawaii since July, when Borschberg finished the trans-Atlantic leg of the journey. Because of […]

Terrafugia is still tweaking the design of its TF-X, an electric, semi-autonomous, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flying car, which is slated to be tested in 2016 and 2017. This week, the company announced that it will soon begin flight testing with an unmanned, one-tenth scale model of the TF-X in order to gauge its […]