Aircraft

Honeywell’s latest business aviation market forecast released on Sunday offers a mix of good and not-so-good news for aircraft manufacturers, painting a generally optimistic picture for builders of large-cabin jets, but taking an opposite view of the light jet market, which is predicted to remain essentially flat for the next several years. Overall, business jet […]

Gulfstream has set an impressive world speed record in its new flagship G650, completing the fastest ever westbound, around-the-world flight for a non-supersonic airplane. A crew of five pilots circled the globe in 41 hours, 7 minutes, establishing a National Aeronautic Association-certified record. On the journey, which took place in July, the G650 also claimed […]

After a couple of years of slowed production numbers, Embraer is experiencing healthy growth of its executive jet products. The Brazilian business and commercial jet producer delivered nearly twice the number of light jets in the third quarter compared with last year. Twenty-five light jets were delivered, more than half of which were Phenom 300s. […]

At AOPA Summit Cirrus Aircraft introduced its new lineup of Generation 5 SR22s. While there aren’t any game changing upgrades, the company has followed course by giving new customers a number of quality of life improvements. For our money, the biggest improvement comes with the introduction of new brakes. The lighter and cooler-running brakes by […]

Mooney confirmed today that it plans to resume aircraft production in January at its factory in Kerrville, Texas, after a five-year absence from the market. The move is being made possible by an undisclosed investment from a mysterious California company called Soaring America Corp. Reports from a Chinese news source last week indicated that Meijing […]

Mooney may soon be sold to Chinese investors. Then again, maybe not. The Kerrville, Texas, company says it can neither confirm nor deny a report that a sale to a Chinese real estate investment group is imminent. China Radio International yesterday reported that Meijing Group of China has entered negotiations with Mooney and is expected […]

Fiscal year 2013 was less unlucky than 2012 for fatal accidents among the experimental category. There were 55 accidents involving fatalities this year, compared with 73 last year, a 25 percent decrease. The accidents resulted in 70 deaths, down 18 percent from the 85 who lost their lives in 2012. EAA also reports that the […]

The FAA and EASA have signed off on the type certification for a five-bladed Hartzell propeller specifically designed to improve the performance of Daher-Socata’s TBM 700 and 850 single-engine turboprops. The composite propeller has a thin, swept airfoil that Hartzell claims improves takeoff acceleration, climb rates and cruise speeds, while producing less noise than the […]

New aircraft models move through the design phase with clear milestone goals. One of the major achievements comes when the wing assembly and fuselage meet for the first time. For the in-development Cessna Citation Latitude, that event occurred last week, and Cessna is celebrating. “It is very rewarding,” said Terry Shriner, Cessna’s business leader for […]

Piper said it will unveil its new iPad-based Pilots Operating Handbook (POH) app at AOPA Summit later this month. The project, which will start with Piper’s M-class and twin-engine models, uses Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP) HubConnect app. Piper vice president of sales and marketing Drew McEwen said, “Our collaboration with ATP gives the owners and […]