Aircraft

On the YouTube video, you hear the distinctive whine of a turboprop engine spooling up. But the sight picture doesn’t match up. Isn’t that a 1948 Luscombe 8E? The extended nose is the tipoff that this is no piston-slapping flivver of an airplane. And then, it backs up on the ramp. This turboprop-powered Luscombe is […]

The odds of Cessna reclaiming its spot as the maker of the fastest civilian airplane just grew stronger. While Gulfstream one-upped the Wichita-based company when its Mach 0.925 G650 business jet was brought to market last year, Cessna announced last week that it has proven the promised performance capabilities of the Citation X speedster to […]

Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works has revealed plans for a new hypersonic spy plane that would be capable of flying at Mach 6, making it the fastest airplane ever and obviating the need for stealth technology because nothing on the planet would be capable of catching it. Designed as a replacement for the super-speedy SR-71 […]

At its NBAA Convention press conference last week, Cessna showed video of its Scorpion light attack jet undergoing ejection seat testing. It’s explosive footage. As I reported on my Twitter feed (@robertgoyer), Cessna plans to fly the Scorpion this year, a remarkably ambitious production schedule, and testing the seats is a critical step along that […]

Embraer intends to expand its Melbourne, Florida, factory to include an assembly line for the Legacy 450 and 500 midsize fly-by-wire business jets currently in development. While the details of the expansion still need to be approved by local and state officials, the Brazilian jet maker said it hopes to open the new facility as […]

Of all the jump planes used for sport parachuting, a Gulfstream GV is probably not the first to come to mind. But the Drake Group, an engineering firm based in Las Vegas, has completed a Supplemental Type Certificate to do just that. The approval covers single and tandem jumping, as well as cargo parachutes for […]

Another sleek-looking light sport amphibian has surfaced, this time from a New Zealand company called Vickers Aircraft. With a look suspiciously close to that of the California-bred Icon A5, the Vickers Wave would be powered by a Lycoming IO-360 engine, feature folding wings and BRS parachute and even be available with optional bow thrusters for […]

Last week at the NBAA Convention static display at Henderson Executive Airport outside Las Vegas, Flying Editor-in-Chief Robert Goyer took the opportunity to visit Gulfstream’s exhibit for a special delivery. For the first time in the history of Flying‘s Editors’ Choice Awards, one company has earned awards for not one but two products, in this […]

1. Because they lack an ignition source (i.e. magnetos and spark plugs), diesels incorporate glow plugs for cold starting. Heat from compressed air ignites the fuel-air mixture. 2. Diesels must use high-pressure fuel injector nozzles to pump fuel directly into the cylinders. The injector has to be able to withstand the temperature and pressure inside […]

| What pilots in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia already know about aviation diesels — or, to use the more technically precise term, compression-ignition engines — we’re slowly learning for ourselves here in America. And the more we learn, the more we’re starting to think we could get used to the smell of jet […]