Aircraft

While most people start flight training because they’ve had a lifelong desire to learn to fly, some start training to overcome their fear of flying. During initial training, future pilots of both categories seem to have, if not a fear, a healthy respect for slow flight and stalls. Their bodies naturally feel that there is […]

While at the 2010 NBAA convention, I stopped by the booth of Stratos Aircraft to check up on the progress the company was making with its eponymous single-engine jet. What I discovered was pretty much exactly what I expected to discover. The company was exceedingly optimistic about the prospects for its jet while admitting there […]

Chris Esposito is co-founder of First Landings Aviation, a central Florida sport pilot flight school, and holds both CFI-ASEL and CFI/CFII-H ratings. Chris has given more than 1,200 hours of flight instruction, 600 of which have been in light-sport aircraft. “Flying both the PiperSport and Remos, two fairly well-known light-sport aircraft, I am often approached […]

At the end of each year, Flying editors review the year’s significant aviation developments in search of remarkable accomplishments that represent innovation, determination and vision. Along the way we consider only those aircraft, avionics, pilot services and equipment that have been fully certified and have entered service during the year. For 2010, we chose five: […]

When I was recently asked to fly from my home in Los Angeles to Paso Robles, I experienced an unfamiliar nervousness. Flying used to be second nature. It didn’t feel much more challenging than stepping into my car to drive to the grocery store. But I gave birth to a son in the summer of […]

Q: I would like to get my Sport Pilot Certificate and have a lot of questions about the training requirements. But first, I have an opportunity to purchase a Luscombe 8E. Can a sport pilot fly this airplane? A: Congratulations on your goal to become a sport pilot! But don’t buy the Luscombe 8E. Other […]

The opening line of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” is an apropos description of today’s used-airplane market. For buyers these are great times to be in the hunt for an airplane that’s gotten some gentle use and good care. But for […]

Visitors to the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention in Atlanta in October got the first public look at the results of a major transformation from the original proof-of-concept PiperJet. Even the name has changed. It’s now the PiperJet Altaire, and the new look and functionality are much more jetlike than the original’s. The basics […]

Now the Altaire, it’s a whole new species.

Christmas Eve 2002 should have been a happy time. It was my first Christmas with my new wife in our new home in Miami. I was a commercial pilot for a small, domestic freight airline. Pilots who do this type of flying are referred to as “freight dogs” because sometimes a day for us can […]