Aircraft

Fans of the late Flying columnist Gordon Baxter (author of ‘Bax Seat’) will fondly remember his eloquent descriptions of flying M&M Air Service’s two-hole 450 Stearman. Founded in 1946 in Baxter’s hometown Beaumont, Texas, M&M now operates nine turbine powered ag-spraying Ayres Air Tractors. But back in the day, the company made its bread and […]

July 2010 — The Mooney 201 was a product of an earlier fuel crisis, the one that plagued the United States for most of the 1970s. When adjusted for inflation, avgas cost matched today’s $5 per gallon and up, and many pilots prized fuel efficiency matched with speed above all other airplane characteristics. Mooneys had […]

For pilots planning to fly into EAA AirVenture (July 26-August 1), the 32-page official FAA Notam is must reading, and an integral element of your flight planning. The notam contains all the arrival/departure procedures, radio frequencies, airport details, parking information and more. If you’re an AirVenture veteran with years’ worth of visits in your logbook, […]

The European consortium EADS has introduced a quad-electric-motor version of the 1970s French design, the single-place, aerobatic ‘Cri Cri” (Cricket). Unveiled at the Green Aviation Show in Paris, the new lithium-battery-powered Cri Cri was redesigned in composite for lower weight and is said to fly 30 minutes at 60 knots.

During one of my Sport Pilot lessons with First Landings Aviation’s Chris Esposito, we had just finished up practicing stalls and steep turns off the north shore of Lake Apopka on yet another gorgeous morning. I had been wondering when we would be practicing engine-out scenarios and asked Chris out of curiosity if one of […]

Cirrus expects its SF50 single-engine jet to begin deliveries in “late 2013,” six years after work began on the project. Company CEO Brent Wouters told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune that the project is at the halfway point, and about 100 current customers had been invited to a flyover of the prototype at the Twin […]

The world’s only flyable Boeing B-29 Superfortress is not quite airworthy — yet. It’s been four years since the Boeing last flew, and the efforts of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) to return “FIFI” to the sky are close. But a “scheduling conflict” has led the FAA to delay issuing a new airworthiness certificate. FIFI […]

Terrafugia announced the FAA has granted an exemption to its ‘Transition’ roadable aircraft. Planned for approval to Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) status, the Transition would have been limited at 1,320 pounds maximum takeoff weight. But the FAA has granted an exemption allowing another 110 pounds for elements required by federal motor vehicle safety standards for […]

JUNE 2010 — Experience is the best teacher. Too bad she’s so mean. I knew that my battery was slowly dying, but I was trying to put off buying a new one — two, actually, since my homebuilt, which has a 28-volt electrical system, uses a pair of Yuasa motorcycle batteries in series. After all, […]

Cobalt Aircraft Industries has announced it will introduce its Co50 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh on July 28. The five-seat all-composite Canard will be powered by a mid-ship-mounted Continental TSIOF-550-D2B twin-turbocharged piston engine driving a pusher propeller. Top speed is predicted as 245 knots at 25,000 feet burning 25 gallons per hour from its 109-gallon capacity. […]