Aircraft

Federal investigators are looking into the unmanned aircraft sighting reported by an Alitalia pilot landing at JFK on Monday afternoon, an event that has evoked larger fears of the planned widespread integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into American airspace. The 777 was on final approach to Runway 31R around 1:15 p.m. when one of the […]

Cessna completed its first production flight of its single-engine TTx in Independence, Kansas, reporting that the composite speedster performed exceptionally well and is ready to hit the market. Cessna’s TTx test pilot flew the airplane to 17,000 feet and achieved a speed of 213 knots. The TTx’s 310 hp Continental TSIO-550-C engine is capable of […]

The top trending search term on Twitter last night was “Rand Paul” as the Republican senator from Kentucky staged a one-man marathon filibuster in protest of an Obama Administration policy that appears to condone drone attacks on American citizens within U.S. borders under certain circumstances. Paul began speaking on the senate floor before noon yesterday […]

At a press conference at the Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, Rolls-Royce senior vice president, helicopters, Greg Fedele introduced the newest member of the M250 engine family — the M250-C47E. The more powerful version features a dual-channel full-authority digital engine control system, which Fedele said may soon allow for on-condition maintenance. Fedele said the fuel burn […]

At a pre-Heli-Expo press briefing yesterday in Las Vegas, Bell Helicopters president and CEO John Garrison announced the company’s latest Bell 412 version, the 412EPI, with new bells and whistles and the promise of better performance. The 412EPI boasts an integrated glass flight deck named Bell BasiX Pro, which provides single-pilot IFR capabilities and incorporates […]

A very special airplane made its first flight since undergoing a complete restoration at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The Historic Flight Foundation’s DC-3 took to the skies over the weekend in its distinctive Pam Am paint scheme. The history of the foundation’s DC-3 began in 1944 as a C-47 in Asia, flying for the […]

Cessna’s new and improved Citation Sovereign moved a step closer toward certification on Tuesday as the first jet rolled off the production line in Wichita, Kansas. The improved Citation Sovereign, announced at the NBAA Convention last fall, is poised for certification and entry into service in the third quarter. It will bring a number of […]

In a closely watched rematch, Embraer on Wednesday won a U.S. Air Force contract to supply 20 of its A-29 Super Tucano light attack airplanes for counterinsurgency missions in Afghanistan. The Brazilian company beat out Beechcraft — again — for the $428 million deal after the Air Force agreed to review the original contract awarded […]

Though Tamarack Aerospace Group, based in Sand Point, Idaho, emphasized that it was quoting “… preliminary results that we’ve seen with our prototype airplane …” a blog on the company website still had something to crow about. On a 1,100-nm flight from Dallas (KDAL) to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (KJAC), the TAG CitationJet equipped with the […]

Engineers at GE Global Research are laying claim to achieving the highest combination of temperatures ever recorded inside the compressor of a turbine engine. The developmental engine program is a cooperative research project between GE and the Air Force Research Laboratory. It’s called ADVENT (Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology) and makes heavy use of ceramic matrix […]