Aircraft

Terrafugia, the company currently developing the roadable airplane known as the Transition, has unveiled plans for a new flying car. Dubbed the TF-X Vision, Terrafugia says the roadable airplane’s key features will include the ability to auto-land and take off vertically from a clearing at least 100 feet in diameter. The vehicle will be hybrid-electric […]

The Air Force’s unmanned X-51 WaveRider “scramjet” covered 264 miles in just over six minutes on Monday, reaching Mach 5.1 (more than 3,000 mph) on its final test flight. The experimental test aircraft was launched from a B-52 bomber out of Edwards Air Force Base in California, and the test flights took place over the […]

The Icon A5 program is facing further delays after the FAA sent a letter requesting more information as it considers a request for a weight exemption. Icon is asking for an additional 250 pounds of gross weight beyond the LSA category’s 1,430-lb amphibious limit, a change the company said is needed to make the Icon […]

When trying to come up with a site for floatplane heaven, you’d go through a lot of places before you hit upon Texas, but this didn’t stop me from saying “yes” when Cessna’s chief pilot of propeller airplanes, Kirby Ortega, dropped me a note asking if I wanted to go float flying with Cessna’s resident […]

Piper has received FAA type certificate approval to install Garmin G1000 avionics in its single-engine Archer model. Widely used as an ab initio trainer, the Archer is powered by a 180 hp Lycoming O-360 A4M engine and cruises at 128 knots. Archers come in two models, the LX and TX, priced at $341,900 and $331,500 […]

Cessna’s Citation line of jets was named after the 1948 winner of the Kentucky Derby. Cessna has a presence at Louisville International Airport (KSDF) this weekend as more than 600 expected general aviation aircraft arrive for the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs. After winning the Derby, Citation went on to capture the Preakness […]

Embraer is making good on a potential $1 billion order from fractional ownership giant NetJets with the delivery yesterday of the first of up to 125 Phenom 300 light jets. The delivery at Embraer’s new factory in Melbourne, Florida, represents the first airplane in a blockbuster deal signed in October 2010 that included 50 firm […]

The new Citation Sovereign made its maiden production flight recently, giving Cessna test pilots their first opportunity to evaluate the upgraded jet’s performance and handling. The flight originated near Cessna’s manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kansas, and lasted for two-and-a-half hours. During that time, Cessna’s test crew performed evaluations of the Garmin G5000 avionics panel, the […]

Earlier this week at a Cessna Citation owners conference in Wichita, Cessna President and CEO Scott Ernest responded to a blog in Tuesday’s Flying eNews entitled “Cessna CJ Hiatus: End of the Niche Jet.” The article wondered what Cessna’s slowdown in Citation production, announced earlier in the week, might mean in the long run for […]

With 13 airplanes on the production line, Cessna’s jet-A-burning Turbo Skylane JT-A is on schedule for certification and first deliveries before the end of June. “We are on track,” said Jeff Umscheid, business leader for the project. “We have been taking orders since [EAA AirVenture 2012 last summer].” The JT-A’s SMA diesel engine is exhibiting […]