Aircraft

Hawker Beechcraft has received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court to reorganize as a smaller, stand-alone company that will focus on the market for turboprop and piston airplanes. The plan calls for the company to emerge from bankruptcy under the name Beechcraft Corp. in February with a renewed emphasis on its King Air, Baron, Bonanza […]

A Diamond DA42 twin flew recently with a developmental digital control system designed to augment pilot controls with computer automation. Long available on airliners and business jets such as the Falcon 7X, digital flight control uses computer algorithms to keep the aircraft not only on course and at an appropriate altitude, but also to maintain […]

December 1 marked the 40th anniversary of the formation of Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., an entity with a rich history in aviation that succeeded in bringing the Dassault Aviation’s business jets into the growing market in the United States. The company, which is a subsidiary of Dassault Aviation of France, was established as a joint […]

Flight Design customers have started taking delivery of the new fuel-injected CTLSi powered by the Rotax 912 iS introduced earlier this year. Several CTLSi LSAs are already spread across the U.S., from the Northeast, where the shipments from Germany arrive, to Florida, the Midwest and the West Coast. The CTLSi is easy to spot because […]

Imagine, high above you, the sleek silhouette of an airplane with a shape more like that of some futuristic spacecraft from a Hollywood blockbuster. You can clearly make out the long, lance-like nose, steeply swept wing and powerful engines as they blast this 21st-century private jet through the stratosphere at twice the speed of Concorde. […]

With the recent announcement by the FAA that it was slowing the process of designating official testing sites for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in part over privacy concerns, the organization that represents drone makers has a blunt message for the FAA that is perhaps best translated as, “Do your job.” The Association for Unmanned Vehicle […]

Just a day after achieving the first flight of the midsize Legacy 500, Embraer marked another milestone on Wednesday as it broke ground on the company’s new Engineering and Technology Center in Melbourne, Florida. The center will be the latest addition to Embraer’s growing presence in the United States and will complement the company’s existing […]

Embraer affirmed its commitment to become a major force in business jet manufacturing with the first flight on Tuesday of the Legacy 500, a clean-sheet midsize model that is capable of flying 3,000 nm, cruising at Mach 0.82 and climbing direct to 45,000 feet. Embraer said the fly-by-wire Legacy 500 made a “flawless” first flight, […]

Earlier this year, we reported that Cessna entered into a strategic agreement with CAIGA (China Aviation Industry General Aircraft), a subsidiary of AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China), to sell, assemble and support the Cessna Caravan in Shijiazhuang, China. The agreement has now developed into a contract for a joint venture company, which in addition […]

With the recent announcement that the FAA’s drone integration plans face more delays, Europe is way ahead of the U.S. There are several programs aimed at integrating pilotless drones into its airspace. For example, test flights are now underway in the UK using a Jetstream 31 twin-engine turboprop, controlled from the ground, but flying with […]