Aircraft

The WingX Pro7 aviation app has added a feature that could come in handy next week as aviation enthusiasts descend on Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the annual EAA AirVenture. With thousands of general aviation airplanes flying in, the AirVenture Oshkosh NOTAM is an extensive document designed to keep pilots safe as they fly in to the […]

Calling it an “agonizing decision for the company,” Piper Aircraft announced plans to layoff up to 150 workers in Vero Beach, Florida, in response to economic instability in “several key regions around the world” including Europe, Latin America and Asia. Piper’s announcement in a press release issued Wednesday morning said, “As a direct result of […]

The Solar Impulse team has decided to throw in the towel for this year, grounding the Si2 until the spring of 2016. As we reported earlier this week, the batteries of the all-solar-powered airplane overheated during the non-stop, nearly 118-hour flight over the Pacific Ocean, causing irreversible damage that prevented the si2 from continuing its […]

As we race inexorably toward the week of Oshkosh to partake in the bounty that is the greatest airshow of the year there are some tangible signs that general aviation is poised for a return to real, honest-to-goodness growth. For starters, the first Icon A5 light sport amphibian will be handed over to its new […]

Disrupt or be disrupted. It’s one of the hard lessons emerging in today’s tech-fueled economy, in which the frenetic pace of innovation means not only seeing new ideas materialize with dizzying speed but also watching as they threaten to obliterate entire industries that came before them. We’ve glimpsed this trend in aviation already with everything […]

Since the earliest days of powered flight, propulsion technology has mattered more than anything else in humankind’s quest to break the bonds of earth and rise triumphantly into thin air. For the Wright Flyer it was a 180-pound, 12-horsepower gasoline piston engine built by Orville and Wilbur’s trusty mechanic, Charles ­Taylor. For the P-51D Mustang, […]

Solar Impulse 2 is stuck on the ground in Hawaii after suffering “irreversible” battery damage caused by overheating during its record-setting, five-day flight from Nagoya, Japan, project leaders said. The solar-powered airplane, with Swiss pilot André Borschberg at the controls, landed safely in Hawaii on July 3, completing the longest leg of its around-the-world attempt […]

Dueling press releases arrived in my email inbox at around the same time on Friday morning, one from Airbus claiming the E-Fan demonstrator had made history by becoming the first electric-powered airplane to cross the English Channel and another saying French pilot Hugues Duval had actually pulled off the same feat the night before in […]

Airbus Group’s E-Fan demonstrator was able to successfully cross the English Channel on Friday morning, mirroring Louis Blériot’s historical flight nearly 106 years ago. But the record flight is already proving controversial. Taking off from Lydd Airport in southern England, the twin-fan electric airplane completed the flight in 38 minutes, reaching a cruise altitude of […]

The aviation world hasn’t witnessed this type of intrigue in 106 years — at least as far as an English Channel crossing is concerned. Seeking to replicate Louis Blériot’s famous overwater flight in July 1909, two would-be electric-airplane producers, Airbus and Pipistrel, are preparing to make historic Channel crossings this week in battery-powered prototypes. But […]