Aircraft

A pair of industry surveys by engine-makers Honeywell and Rolls-Royce point to continued decline in the turbine rotorcraft market through next year. Long-term outlooks continue to be optimistic, though Honeywell predicts the uptick might not arrive until 2014. The declines in sales are blamed on high inventories and tight credit conditions. One bright spot in […]

CitationAir (nee CitationShares) is now a wholly owned entity of Cessna Aircraft. The manufacturer recently acquired the final 8 percent of the financial interest. The program began in 2000 as a fractional share company, half owned by Cessna and half by TAG Aviation. In the years since, the program has grown and evolved to include […]

At a press conference at this year’s Helicopter Association International (HAI) Convention in Houston, Robinson Helicopter CEO Frank Robinson gave a progress report on the company’s eagerly awaited R66 turbine helicopter, and the news is good. The program is on track for certification — in fact, there’s a chance it will be approved by the […]

I met Ray Henning when I was building my first airplane, around 1969 or 1970. I would frequently go to breakfast at a coffee shop called Mr. C’s — long extinct — with the late John Thorp and whichever of his cronies happened to be around when that time of the morning came. Mr. C’s […]

Aspen Avionics has partnered with a pair of third-party shops to earn several supplemental type certificates for helicopter applications. Announced at Heli-Expo in Houston, the STCs include those for installing Aspen EFD1000H flight display systems in Bell 206 and 407 models. As with fixed-wing applications, the EFD1000H replaces the six fundamental mechanical flight instruments with […]

With more than 50 helicopters on display, this year’s Heli-Expo bucked the worldwide recession in its own peculiar way. The rotorcraft industry has always been an economic enigma. It is fragmented into many diverse elements, including: training, corporate transport, emergency medical services (EMS), offshore oil support, electronic newsgathering, law enforcement, and utility (logging, pipeline work, […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authority on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: Q: I need to get an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) for my experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA). Do I need to […]

Robinson Helicopter has begun accepting $75,000 deposits for its Rolls-Royce turboshaft-powered R66. First flown in 2007, the R66 is in the process of FAA certification, and the company reports it will not assign serial numbers or delivery dates until that certification is received. Base price of the R66 with standard equipment is $770,000. The R66 […]

A Cessna 337 Skymaster, a centerline-thrust piston twin, crashed on the grounds of New Jersey’s Monmouth Executive Regional Airport (BLM) on Monday afternoon in good weather. All five on board were killed, including three adults, a teenager and a younger boy. The flight originated at the airport about seven minutes before the crash, and some […]

How Will Unmanned Airplanes Fit Into Our Airspace System?