Aircraft

Open a desk drawer at work and there it is. Check the bedside table; there it is again — a single sheet of glossy paper, almost as thick as cardboard, with a flattering shot of my favorite turboprop: the Piper Cheyenne. The airplane is dear to me because my wife and I own one. The […]

Cessna told workers on Tuesday it is forced to further pare its workforce with 700 more layoffs across the board. This announcement came on the heels of a vote by Cessna’s 2,500 union employees on Saturday not to strike. The no-strike vote meant the union accepted by default a new contract they had voted by […]

When I became a first lieutenant aircraft commander in the B-47 Strato-Jet, the most beautiful airplane ever built, I had many lessons to be learned. As to emergency situations, our instructors always advised us to maintain control of the airplane and then handle the emergency. I, however, had another type of control to learn. In […]

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.) has announced plans to ask the U.S. International Trade Commission to look into the issue of unfair competition in business aircraft production. His state is home to Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Learjet, and Brownback has suggested that foreign competitors — specifically Embraer of Brazil — have enjoyed government subsidies in developing […]

The fastest civilian airplane now climbs higher and faster with graceful new winglets.

In many ways the Cessna Citation X is an extreme airplane. Its radically swept wing, huge wing-to-fuselage fairing and enormous vertical fin are unique in the business jet world. The X looks like it does because that’s what it took to reach the goal of being the fastest civilian airplane now in service. With its […]

My balloon career launched modestly (sort of) when a delightful, brilliant, eccentric friend named Frank Wood decided he had to have a balloon for fun and to promote his rather outrageous WEBN radio station in Cincinnati. He built it and aired a classical music format until son Beau convinced him that wouldn’t “fly” and they […]

We get hot, high and heavy with Cessna’s six-seat piston hauler on a challenging real-life mission.

The FAA recognizes that pilots of conventional aircraft can have dangerous difficulty transitioning to Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). Light aircraft react differently from heavier, more powerful GA aircraft, and have different vulnerabilities based on their low wing loading and other factors. But the agency is in a logjam on how to approve training in such […]

There is no such thing as “normal” for new business jet sales. It’s usually a cycle of extreme highs and deep lows, with occasional periods when the market can’t seem to decide which of those two to choose. According to Bombardier Aerospace, the painful debacle from the past two years’ economic slowdown is showing signs […]