Aircraft

Light helicopter manufacturer Enstrom Helicopter announced the delivery of its first Enstrom 480B-G. The Garmin G1000H-equipped helicopter went to Rick Boswell of New Hampshire, who was greeted together with his instructor Roger Sharkey by a large group of employees at the Enstrom factory in Menominee, Michigan. “When I heard about the G1000H, I had to […]

Gulfstream this morning revealed the company’s future direction with the official unveiling of a new family of technologically sophisticated business jets, the clean-sheet G500 and G600 models. Resembling the flagship G650 in outward appearance, the new airplanes feature a long list of surprising changes and improvements inside and out. Both will fly with versions of […]

As a young boy I loved airplanes. It was in the late ’40s and early ’50s, the era when jets were replacing props. Except for the Douglas Skyraider (a great, homely, radial-engine, taildragging behemoth later to be a favorite of some pilots in Vietnam because it could shrug off so much punishment), the airplanes I […]

At the CitationJet Pilots Conference in Greenbrier, West Virginia, light jet mod specialist Sierra Industries announced its Sapphire Program, which it calls a “comprehensive suite of improvements” for Cessna CitationJets, from the original through the CJ1+. At the heart of the program are two major changes. The Williams engines will be swapped out for the […]

Gulfstream added a new jet to its fleet of certified airplanes this week after the FAA gave the green light to the ultra-long-range Gulfstream G650ER. The G650ER, first announced in May, brings even longer legs to an airplane that already set the gold standard for its combination of speed and range. The new G650ER can […]

Hurtling at high speed through the lower reaches of the stratosphere with the persistent roar of the turbofan engines reverberating mere feet from the passenger compartment and the ferocious rush of turbulent air blasting away against the fuselage, the typical business jet is anything but a sanctuary of peace and quietude on the inside. It’s […]

The North American P-51 Mustang is possibly the most highly revered airplane ever created, and several companies have released look-alikes of the classic warbird. The most recent addition to the Mustang stable comes from FK-Lightplanes — a Polish company that produces LSAs and aerobatic airplanes. Its SW51 recently took to the skies for the first […]

If you haven’t heard the news yet, Flying is set to host its first fly-in and trade show in the magazine’s 87-year history. The Flying Aviation Expo is shaping up to be a can’t-miss event for pilots in Southern California and beyond, transforming the Palm Springs Convention Center into a general aviation mecca for three […]

A totally new helicopter from a completely new company made its first flight in Mollis, Switzerland, recently, kicking off the certification program for the single-engine SKYe SH09 built by Marenco Swisshelicopter. With chief test pilot Dwayne Williams at the controls, the SKYe SH09 performed five short hover flights on October 2, logging 20 minutes in […]

Sikorsky revealed the first two S-97 Raider helicopter prototypes, giving the world a glimpse of what future direct-fire-support rotorcraft may look like. The words stunning and lethal spring to mind. Based on Sikorsky’s record-setting X2 rigid-rotor coaxial demonstrator, the S-97 features next-generation technologies in a faster and smaller package than traditional helicopters, a combination that […]