Aircraft

Dassault Aviation says it has found a fix for the problem that caused one of its Falcon 7X jets to climb uncontrollably a few weeks ago, an event that led to the cautionary grounding of the entire fly-by-wire Falcon 7X fleet. The company announced last week that the modification needed to prevent similar occurrences has […]

Imagine yourself in an airliner 40 years from now. What does it look like? According to Airbus’ lofty prediction, which will likely cause more than a few retrospective chuckles down the road, passengers flying in 2050 should be able to play a game of virtual golf, breathe in antioxidant-enriched air and watch the sky take […]

Cessna Aircraft has landed a contract from the U.S. Air Force for more than two dozen single-engine airplanes, and the timing couldn’t be better. The deal includes six Cessna 182T Skylanes, 26 208B Caravans and six aircrew training devices, all for use in Afghanistan for light-duty missions and training.** ** Cessna has been hurting for […]

After several months of adversity, the Diamond D-JET program is ready to continue its progress toward certification. Diamond Aircraft has secured the funding required to restart the program, and is in the process of rehiring the engineering and technical staff furloughed earlier this year at the factory in London, Ontario. Diamond North America’s president Peter […]

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has earned FAA approval for the latest iteration of its popular turboprop twin, the King Air 250. FAA approval came after an extensive development program for a series of mods that make the 250 the fastest and most capable 200-series model yet. ** ** The airplane, featured in a Flying 2011 cover […]

The B-17 Flying Fortress Liberty Belle, known for traveling around the country attending air shows and giving people the experience of riding in a World War II bomber, has abruptly ended its tour of duty. An apparent in-flight fire forced the pilots to bring the airplane down in a cornfield near the Aurora Municipal Airport […]

__The special light-sport aircraft market offers a range of airplanes — there are 115 S-LSA models approved by the FAA — that serve many missions. To gain a bit more perspective on the offerings, I arranged for demo rides in three S-LSAs during this year’s Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland, Florida. Each was touted as […]

Despite the widespread adoption of Garmin’s integrated avionics systems in a variety of airplanes from four-place piston singles to turboprops and business jets, never before has the company’s G1000 glass cockpit flown in a helicopter. The conventional wisdom has always seemed to argue against shoehorning Garmin’s wide LCD flight displays into the tight confines of […]

After several attempts at flight and 12 crash landings, the founder of Cessna Aircraft Company, Clyde Cessna, completed his first successful flight in June 1911, one hundred years ago, according to company archives. The 31-year-old Cessna had added an engine and propeller to a copy of the Blériot XI fuselage and was teaching himself to […]

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has taken delivery of its first Sukhoi SuperJet 100, a modern fly-by-wire regional jet intended to compete head to head against hot-selling models from Bombardier and Embraer in the 75- to 95-seat category. Featuring PowerJet SaM146 engines capable of producing 17,000 pounds of thrust and an integrated avionics system developed by […]