Aircraft

Imagine sliding open the door to your hangar, unplugging the power cable snaking from your airplane to a quick-charging station on the wall and taking to the sky in a sleek four-seater powered only by the smooth, quiet, nonpolluting whir of an electric motor connected to rows of lithium battery packs nestled in the wing. […]

Electric motors use electromagnetic force to produce movement. Magnetic forces — attraction and repulsion — cause the electromagnet inside an electric motor to spin. Motors with metal brushes perform this function by creating opposite charges that attract and repel as the rotor changes polarity. A brushless electric motor relies instead on a solid-state controller to […]

The FAA is crafting rules that would allow electric airplanes to operate in U.S. airspace, but there is one big caveat: No passengers will be allowed on board. That’s according to a draft FAA order that spells out operating limitations for such aircraft. The proposed revision to FAA Order 8130.2 really isn’t that big of […]

Cessna has announced its intent to upgrade two of its popular business jets: the CJ2+ and CJ3, which will now become the CJ3+. Both bizjets are replacing the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics with Garmin’s G3000 touch screen system. In addition to the new avionics suite, the two airplanes have received a new diagnostic […]

In subfreezing temperatures and buffeting winds, a Cirrus Aircraft test pilot yesterday flew the first production conforming Vision SF50 jet, taking off from Duluth International Airport at around 5 p.m. for the one-hour shakedown test. “The Vision Jet handled and performed very well and all systems functioned properly – just what you want in a […]

We cruised along under a high gray overcast at 13,500 feet, solitary in the sky over the winter patchwork Kansas countryside. On the gauges were figures that a pilot of any single-engine nonturbine airplane would be delighted to see: 210 knots true while burning 18 gph. This was the kind of true airspeed that 30 […]

The Cessna TTx is one of a few new-technology, high-performance, high-dollar piston singles that put technology and performance at the fore. The carbon fiber TTx is the second fastest piston single in production at 235 knots true. It is a roomy, comfortable and technologically advanced model; it is the only such model with Garmin’s G2000 […]

Daher-Socata unveiled its latest upgrade for the TBM series yesterday, the TBM 900. Retaining the same Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D engine rated at 850 shaft horsepower, the new model has improved performance based on aerodynamic optimization of the airframe and the engine air intake configuration. It also comes with a new five-blade composite propeller […]

The first Eclipse 550 customer has left the Eclipse Aerospace factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the manufacturer delivered the first modified version of the original very light jet, the Eclipse 500. The delivery was achieved less than two years after production restarted, but about six months later than the company had hoped when it […]

Cessna Skyhawks equipped with Centurion diesel engines, a retrofit installation recently offered as a part of Redbird Flight Simulations’ Redhawk conversion and Premier Aircraft Sales’ Skyhawk upgrade program, can now get another upgrade, which promises better climb rates and faster speeds. The FAA has signed off on a supplemental type certificate that allows for the […]