Aircraft

As the FAA prepares to fully integrate drones into American airspace over the next few years, a growing number of schools are also prepping for the change that influx will bring to the country’s pilot training landscape. Several universities have already staked their claim in the drone arena, with dozens approved as authorized UAV launch […]

A bankruptcy judge has rejected a proposal to give eight top Hawker Beechcraft executives up to $5.3 million in bonuses, ruling the plan would reward them merely for staying at their jobs. The judge in the case said the plan amounted to retention incentives, and did not meet legal standards that require “challenging goals” before […]

Few people outside of the Poberezny family had as much influence on the early homebuilt aircraft movement as Ray Stits. Today, at the age of 90, he’s still going strong as a pilot, mentor, and founding member of EAA Chapter One at historic Flabob Airport. Ray has had a sterling career as an aircraft designer, […]

Cessna last week announced a new, unofficial speed record that would allow the up-and-coming Citation Ten to snag the coveted position of the world’s fastest civilian aircraft, if the numbers pan out during certification of the jet. Cessna says the new Citation Ten can now reach a high speed of Mach 0.935, which would give […]

Pipistrel Aircraft is again being allowed to import its LSA models into the U.S. after the FAA imposed a week-long ban on the grounds that the agency couldn’t verify where the airplanes were actually being built. Pipistrel is based in Slovenia a few miles from the Italian border. Because Slovenia doesn’t have a bilateral certification […]

The French military is buying a fleet of nearly two-dozen Cirrus SR20s and SR22s to be used primarily by the Air Force and Navy for initial pilot training. A fleet of 13 Cirrus SR20s will be used for training at the French air force base of Salon de Provence in the south of France. An […]

Cessna’s new Citation Latitude has extended its legs with a new range that maxes out at 2,500 nautical miles, bringing a 25 percent increase to its initial expected range of 2,000 nm. The announcement was made last week at the Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition, and comes after a previous extension of the […]

Nextant Aerospace has landed a bulk order from Asia Pacific Jets of Singapore for 10 of its Nextant 400XT bizjets, a remanufactured version of the Beechjet 400. Nextant said it will deliver the airplanes over a period of three years, with some outfitted as air ambulances and others as VIP transports. Asia Pacific Jets also […]

Lisa Airplanes, the French developer of the Akoya amphibious light sport aircraft, is putting a positive spin on the news that it has entered into court-supervised receivership after desperately needed private funding failed to materialize last month. In a statement, the company said it has been placed into receivership “to protect its future.” Lisa Airplanes […]

The Sonex is a two-seat aluminum aircraft designed by John Monnett and sold in kit form by Sonex Aircraft. Like most of John’s designs, the aircraft is aerobatic, easy to build and fun to fly. Today a complete Sonex kit costs $27,670. That includes an 80 hp Aero Vee engine kit. There are two other […]