Aircraft

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 […]

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 […]