Aircraft

French aerospace manufacturer Thales has come up with a proof-of-concept that takes multitasking to a whole new level. The experimental touchscreen control station would allow UAV pilots to operate multiple aircraft simultaneously. “The operator simply has to sit down and define what to track,” said Arnaud Galimberti, the project’s engineering manager. “Take-off, flight trajectory, tracking […]

Sikorsky has achieved a new milestone in the S-97 Raider program, currently in the development phase. The team at Sikorsky’s Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, recently turned on the helicopter’s electrical power for the first time. “This is a big milestone for a development program,” said Sikorsky’s S-97 Raider program manager, Mark […]

“Cessna 48X, traffic 12 o’clock, 2 miles, 6,500, UAV maneuvering.” The ATC call was both surprising and ironic, since I was on my way from Los Angeles to Arizona to research an article about drones. I never saw the UAV, and the sound of the drone pilot’s response was not audible because communications from UAVs […]

Thanks to the success of Sporty’s 2014 RV-12 Sweepstakes, the popular pilot supplies provider has once again selected the Van’s LSA for its annual airplane giveaway. One lucky winner will be awarded the two-seater on May 16, 2015, during Sporty’s annual fly-in. Individuals who make purchases at Sporty’s between May 9, 2014, and May 8, […]

Cessna is launching its third annual Cessna Discover Flying Challenge. But this year is quite different from previous years. Instead of flying Skycatchers, the two-seat airplanes that Cessna took out of production in the past few months, the selected pilot interns will jump into six Cessna 172 Skyhawks. “The enthusiasm of our interns is contagious […]

Rotax had a big celebration last week at its factory in Gunskirchen, Austria, as the company marked the 25th anniversary of the Rotax 912 and delivered its 50,000th aircraft engine. The celebration was held at Rotax’s second annual fly-in with about 160 people in attendance from 25 countries and four continents. More than 70 light […]

Embraer Executive Jets continues to celebrate the successful introduction of its Phenom family of light jets, the Phenom 100 and 300. The Brazilian manufacturer announced this week that it has delivered the 500th Phenom. The airplane, a Phenom 300, was delivered to Prime Fraction Club, a Brazilian fractional ownership provider based in Sao Paulo that […]

When French company Socata launched the single-engine turboprop TBM 700 with Mooney in 1989, many observers wondered if the airplane would ever be anything more than an aerial oddity. That’s before people began to operate it and realized the many benefits of having a single Pratt & Whitney PT6 up front. That first TBM was […]

Want the very best combination of speed, range, and load-carrying capacity? A single-engine turboprop like those in the TBM series makes a great choice. Here’s a brief look at how the TBM 900 stacks up against its competitors in the turboprop and owner-flown jet market. [Historical data and pricing have been preserved for the record.] […]

The Solar Impulse 2, a massive Swiss-made solar-powered airplane aiming to be the first to fly around the world next year, successfully completed its first test flight yesterday, climbing to nearly 6,000 feet and staying aloft for 2 hours and 17 minutes. The Solar Impulse 2 is a larger version of its predecessor, the original […]