Aircraft

The development team at German airplane manufacturer Flight Design is getting ready for a significant milestone in its four-seat airplane program, named the C4. Flight Design USA’s president Tom Peghiny said the composite airplane is expected to take to the skies for the first time by the end of the month. Members of a technical […]

Peter Siebold, the test pilot who survived the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo on October 31, shed further light on the mission’s final seconds after telling investigators he didn’t know that his copilot had unlocked the space plane’s feathering re-entry system earlier than planned. The spacecraft broke apart high over the Mojave Desert, killing copilot […]

Following an epic journey of more than 4 billion miles spanning 10 years, a tiny lander the size of a washing machine made history by being the first spacecraft to touch down on the surface of a distant comet and start beaming back pictures to researchers on Earth. The Philae lander actually made a bounced […]

After weeks of rumors surrounding a possible new airplane design from Mooney International, the recently resurrected legacy airplane manufacturer announced at Airshow China 2014 in Zhuhai that it is developing a line of two-seat airplanes named the M10 series. The new series will start out with the M10T and M10J models, both powered by Continental […]

A Learjet 36 hit a construction crane and crashed on approach to Grand Bahama International Airport on Sunday, killing a well-known local religious leader and eight others onboard. Dr. Myles Munroe, leader of the Bahamas Faith Ministries, his wife Ruth and other passengers and crew, had been traveling from the Bahamas capital of Nassau to […]

Bell Helicopter took its latest five-seat design, the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X, on its maiden flight yesterday, bringing the helicopter one step closer to certification. The flight took off from the company’s Mirabel, Quebec, manufacturing facility and lasted about 30 minutes. This initial test flight included hovering and two laps in the pattern flanked […]

Piaggio Aerospace officially opened a sprawling new factory in Villanova d’Albenga, Italy, today, where the recently restructured company is moving all its aircraft production. The maker of the Avanti Evo pusher twin recently changed its name from Piaggio Aero Industries to Piaggio Aerospace and announced a company-wide reorganization splitting the manufacturer into three units, one […]

Deliveries of general aviation piston airplanes climbed by 9.2 percent through the first three quarters of this year compared with the same time period in 2013, showing a mix of bright and not-so-bright products and market trends. According to the latest numbers released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, a total of 806 piston singles […]

Initial customer deliveries of Cessna’s new diesel-powered 182 JT-A won’t be made until some time in 2015 as engineers continue to hone the design, the first production piston single from the manufacturer intended to run on jet-A fuel rather than avgas. Cessna last spring said certification of the 182 JT-A was “imminent” after stumbles in […]

At the Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs, California, this weekend the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation announced the winners of its Pilots Choice Award grants, which generously give to aviation-related charitable organizations. Grants of between $2,000 and $10,000 were awarded to eight aviation charities based on votes submitted by the public online. Pilots N Paws, which […]