Aircraft

Last Friday morning at 1130, three LSAs departed from Apopka, Florida’s X04 for a long weekend in Franklin, North Carolina. Another sport pilot and I flew the Remos while the SportCrusier (formally a PiperSport) and Gobash each had a sport pilot (one working on his private) and a CFI. Pilots and passengers of a Cessna […]

Innovation during down times continues to be a differentiator, and GE Aviation has made clear where it stands on this point. This week the Fortune 100 company broke ground on $51 million R&D facility on the campus of the University of Dayton in Ohio. GE calls the center the Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research and […]

After the launch of three new airplanes, Phil Solomon, CEO at Tecnam North America, described last week’s AERO Friedrichshafen as “incredibly successful,” with a total of 42 airplanes sold during the four-day event. The three airplanes announced were the 11-seat P2012, four-seat PTwenty Ten and a new version of the popular P92 Eaglet, all designed […]

At AERO Friedrichshafen last week, German company Flight Design, maker of the popular light sport CS two-seater, unveiled its plans for its new four-seat model, the C4. The airplane will be certified by European aviation authorities (EASA) with reciprocal FAA certification to follow. First deliveries of the carbon fiber airplane are projected for 2013. On […]

Cutting-edge turbine engine technology is changing the face of aviation — and making the world a much smaller place. Here’s how.

(April 2011) TAKE A CLOSE LOOK at the inner workings of a modern turbofan engine and you’ll be glimpsing mankind’s ultimate triumph over that most fundamental of untamed ancient natural elements — fire. The science behind basic turbine engine design, after all, represents simplicity at its minimalist best: A single moving part compresses the air […]

Over the past decade Cirrus has changed the nature of light GA with a host of innovative features and other approaches — not without controversy.

Cirrus creates a limited-edition model to celebrate a decade of innovation.

The Cirrus SR series of single-engine airplanes has been controversial since the beginning. The beginning, as some of you might recall, came in 1995 when Cirrus, which had before then been a kit manufacturer, announced the existence of “Hangar X,” the secret facility in which it was building its mysterious to-be-certified entry. When the mystery […]

When you look back at the historical arc of light general aviation, a few airplanes stand out as being so important that their introductions changed the way we flew and the way we looked at flying. At the certain risk of leaving out a few favorites, you can’t talk about the history of light aviation […]