Aircraft

__One of the things I love best about airplanes is their back stories. While the **Embraer Legacy 650** is a brand-new airplane, its story stretches back 30 years to when the Brazilian company first decided to start building airliners. My personal tour of the cockpit of the Embraer Legacy 650 immediately reminded me of the […]

_(August 2011) _The Cessna Cardinal RG was sitting forlornly at the edge of Montgomery Field in San Diego with a “for sale” banner hanging from its propeller. As we came out of the parking lot after having lunch at a sushi restaurant across from the airport, Judith pointed at the Cardinal. Isn’t that one of […]

(August 2011) It has often been said that accidents result not from one big cause, but from a lot of little ones that happen to converge in some unforeseen way. Nevertheless, many fatal accidents do arise from one simple cause: VFR pilots flying into IFR weather. This happens so regularly, and in so monotonous a […]

My wife and I visited Bell Helicopter in Texas recently for recurrent training in the Bell 407. The day following completion of our training, we had the opportunity to make a 90-minute flight in the new Garmin G1000-equipped Bell 407GX. I have extensive Garmin experience, and have flown G1000-equipped fixed-wing aircraft since Cessna first offered […]

The incredibly popular PA-28 Cherokee line was launched in 1961, but the 180 horsepower engine was not introduced until the 1963 models. This configuration was later to become the Piper PA-28-180 and PA-28-181 Archer. While the Cherokee 180 model underwent various upgrades through the years, its basic design has remained remarkably unchanged — a tribute […]

While the name Daher-Socata is new, the roots of the company can be traced back to the beginnings of man’s adventure with the airplane, starting 100 years ago under the name Morane-Saulnier. Over the last century, the company has developed 94 models and produced more than 17,000 aircraft. It also participated in many aviation firsts: […]

Take a look at the TBM 850’s roots, which reach back itself to the early days of aviation.

Boeing has completed flight trials of the 787-8 Dreamliner, with the final round of testing occurring on a 90-minute flight last weekend from Billings, Montana, to Everett, Washington. Boeing is now preparing to make the first delivery of a 787-8 equipped with Rolls-Royce engines to Japan’s All Nippon Airways next month. Flight testing continues for […]

After a demo flight in a light-sport airplane a few years ago, private pilot Steve Satter decided on his first airplane purchase. “Up until I bought the Flight Design CTLS, I had been renting standard category airplanes,” explains Satter, who earned his private ticket in 2003. “I discovered that the new LSAs offered affordability compared […]

Builiding a Glasair Sportsman from start to finish.