Aircraft

(June 2011) There are good reasons that the Piper Archer is an airplane commonly found in flight school fleets. Its stable flight characteristics and simple design make it an excellent trainer. And with enough speed to get you where you want to go, but not too much to get you in trouble, as well as […]

(June 2011) We’d just landed, taxied in and shut down the one-of-a-kind King Air 250 on the Atlantic FBO ramp at my home airport of Austin Bergstrom. We’d made our fuel order, closed up the big airstair door and started into the FBO when my flying buddy, Hawker Beechcraft’s Mark Mohler, spotted a pretty King […]

The story feels more like the 1920s than the 1980s. It’s about an Australian pilot named Don Adams. After serving as an engine mechanic in the Royal Australian Air Force in the final years of World War II, he returned to his native Queensland and took up crop spraying, first using a de Havilland Tiger […]

What’s bigger than “jumbo?” An Australian news outlet has reported that Airbus is ready to pull the trigger on development of a stretched A380 — an airplane that is already the largest capacity airplane ever to fly. Not surprisingly, Airbus has yet to comment on the report, which one would classify either as a leak, […]

Gulfstream has resumed flight testing of its G650 business jet nearly two months after the crash of a test aircraft during takeoff at Roswell, New Mexico, that killed all four Gulfstream employees on board. “We have conducted all the necessary reviews to assure ourselves that we can safely resume the flight-test program at this point,” […]

Dassault Aviation has grounded its entire fleet of 112 Falcon 7Xs after one airplane experienced a pitch trim issue during a descent. The crew was able to control the airplane and landed successfully. However, as a safety precaution, Dassault requested directives from EASA and the FAA for a temporary suspension all 7X operations until the […]

Melbourne, Florida-based Liberty Aerospace has selected the 100-horsepower Rotax 912S air- and liquid-cooled engine as an alternative to the Teledyne Continental IOF-240-B. Liberty president and CEO Keith Markley says the new engine option is a response to international demands from customers in Southeast Asia, where aviation fuel can reach prices as high as $20 per […]

Scott Ernest, a veteran of GE Aviation, has been named president and CEO of Cessna Aircraft by parent company Textron. Ernest replaces former Cessna Chairman and CEO Jack Pelton, who retired only weeks ago. Ernest faces an extremely tough bizjet market that, despite recent hopeful signs, remains mired in a three-year slump. Single-engine business, likewise, […]

Cessna announced last week that the Citation Ten is on schedule to make its first flight by the end of 2011. Deliveries of the midsize jet are expected to begin in the latter half of 2013.** ** According to Cessna, the Citation Ten has a new design and performance capabilities that allow it “to fly […]

A New York federal jury on Tuesday found Cirrus Design does not bear any blame for the October 2006 crash of an SR20 that killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, 34, and flight instructor Tyler Stanger, 26. The pair crashed into a high-rise apartment building as they attempted to make a turn in the […]