Aircraft

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?

An avionics software upgrade for the ages; and a pair of new-version piston twins made the list of Flying‘s Editors’ Choice Awards for 2009. Avidyne’s Entegra Release 9 upgrade is much more than a simple download. It’s a game-changing update that brings one of the original glass panel systems for light aircraft back to the […]

Hawker Beechcraft took the wraps off its newest website (www.hawkerbeechcraft.com) this week. Designed to be “customer-focused” the site is designed to offer more information as well as exciting ways to experience the company’s products online. Recognizing the importance of the Internet in today’s society, HBC’s director of marketing Ron Gunnarson said, “A customer’s first impression […]

This year’s Red Bull Air Racing World Championship will run in cooperation with Cirrus Aircraft. Announced last week at Santa Monica, California, the partnership will enable guests at the Red Bull races in either the Race Club or High Flyer’s Lounge to have special access to the Cirrus SR22 and the developmental single-engine Cirrus Vision […]

When the first HondaJets are delivered, planned for the fourth quarter of next year, FlightSafety International will train their pilots. FSI will establish a facility at Honda Aircraft headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, configured to accommodate two simulators provided by the training specialist. “We will consider adding additional simulators at other locations in the U.S. […]

On March 4, 2008, a Citation 500 with five people aboard took off from Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City. Two minutes later, it lay a smoking wreckage in a wooded area four miles away. Many witnesses saw the crash. One reported hearing what “sounded like an engine compressor stall” — that is, a loud […]