Aircraft

Daher-Socata has unveiled the 2013 version of the TBM 850 Elite featuring an all-glass avionics panel. The L-3 Avionics Trilogy ESI-2000 solid-state electronic standby instrument will now provide backup flight information for the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics system that graces the TBM 850 cockpit. The ESI-2000’s 3.7-inch liquid crystal display replaces the three traditional round-gauge […]

In 1992, Scaled Composites built a radio-controlled UAV intended for 48-hour flights at 65,000 feet. Called Quiver (it was later changed to Raptor, for “Responsive Aircraft Program for Theater Operations”), it had a wingspan of 66 feet and an 80 hp Rotax engine. Scaled also home-brewed the autopilot, and there was some uncertainty about how […]

Piper has selected the Garmin G1000 integrated flight deck for its Seneca V piston twin as an upgrade over the previously available G600 suite. The G1000 system in the Seneca V includes three 10.4-inch displays integrating all primary flight information, navigation data, communications, terrain awareness, traffic, weather and engine data. The G1000 for the Seneca […]

Apparently helicopters are the getaway vehicle of choice for high-profile inmates in Greek prisons. But this time the attempt failed. Last Sunday, convicted murderer and racketeer Panagiotis Vlastos was waiting in the courtyard of Trikala Prison, about 205 miles northeast of Athens, when the chartered helicopter swooped down. It is not yet clear if the […]

A half-inch-long crack in a turbine engine blade prompted the Pentagon to ground the fleet of 51 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters on Friday, the latest black eye for the troubled and oft-delayed military jet program. Engineers at Pratt & Whitney planned to conduct a detailed examination of the turbine blade on the F135 engine as […]

“I’d never scared off a mountain lion before using a helicopter,” said Monty Emery, a pilot with the California Highway Patrol based near the town of Colfax. But on Saturday, he got his chance. He and copilot David White received a dispatch call about a hiker on nearby Stevens Trail. David Nash had called 911 […]

Testing components of supersonic aircraft in flight can be problematic, and the refined wing design of Aerion’s developmental supersonic business jet (SSBJ) is a case in point. The 40-inch by 80-inch redesigned airfoil section is attached to the belly of a NASA F-15B to test for aerodynamic and temperature effects at speeds up to Mach […]

Bombardier has released its financial results for 2012, and while the order backlog for Bombardier Aerospace products continues to grow, the report delivered some bad news as well. The all-composite Learjet 85, which was slated for entry into service this year, has now been delayed until the summer of 2014. Bombardier cited “several new technology […]

A look at how composites enable the kit Evolution.

You may think an airplane as complex as the Evolution doesn’t belong in the amateur-built world. But for a company like Redmond, Oregon-based Lancair International, which has decades of experience producing complex airplane kits, the concept makes total sense. With the Evolution, Lancair has incorporated Part 23 certification procedures into its successful kit business to […]