Aircraft

A prototype of the Evektor EV-55 Outback turboprop twin made its first flight from Kunovice Airport in the Czech Republic last Friday, delivering on a promise made by the fledgling aircraft manufacturer when it launched the project seven years ago.** ** Evektor test pilot Josef Charvat and military pilot Major Jiri Hana flew the airplane, […]

The title of this article is a bit strange, so I will explain. For six years I was “engaged” to an Eclipse VLJ, but the romance dissolved when the originally promised range did not materialize. I sold my delivery position (see the July 2008 Flying article “My Torrid Affair with a VLJ”). I continued to […]

The super-massive Airbus A380 has had another run in with a stationary object, but this time it was a building at Le Bourget Airport on the eve of the Paris Air Show rather than a commuter jet. Still, the taxiway incident, in which the A380’s right wingtip was sheared off on June 19 as it […]

Paris Air Show visitors got a glimpse of what is claimed to be the world’s first-ever serial hybrid electric airplane this week in the DA36 E-Star, just two weeks after the aircraft made its successful first flight. The aircraft, developed by Siemens, Diamond Aircraft and EADS, is the first to employ a so-called serial hybrid […]

Extra Aircraft has received approval form the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the Avidyne Entegra Release 9 integrated flight deck in the German-built Extra EA-500 single-engine turboprop. The certification allows IFR day and night operations in EA-500s fitted with the Entegra Release 9 upgrade. The EA-500 is a turboprop version of the Extra 400 […]

After years of back-and-forth negotiations, Bell Helicopter has at last agreed to sell its stake in the BA609 civil tiltrotor program to partner AgustaWestland. As a result, the tiltrotor is being renamed the AW609. Bell will continue to supply components and engineering support for the tiltrotor, but flight testing and manufacture will move solely to […]

(June 2011) I jumped down from Don’s red Ford 350 pickup and, with what I hoped was a disarming grin, sauntered up a gravel lane toward two men standing stolidly, feet apart, holding shotguns. Don Harner wasn’t a pilot but was one of those people who have a lifelong love affair with airplanes. And there […]

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 […]