Aircraft

One hundred seventy-seven flight hours from now, the engines on our 1980 Piper Cheyenne will reach TBO. That’s about 13 months away, given our average yearly flying. This milestone has precipitated all sorts of careful calculations in my house. Should we pay to overhaul the engines? Why put that much money into an ancient airframe? […]

According to Airframer.com, there are 329 aviation vendors who were cheering the first flight of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner last week. The ultimate success of the long-delayed program would mean greater prosperity for parts suppliers who also support general aviation — providing greater financial stability and greater assurance of long-term fiscal viability. Among the suppliers who […]

As promised, Cessna delivered the first Model 162 SkyCatcher to Rose Pelton on Dec. 18. She is the wife of Cessna President and CEO Jack Pelton, and plans to use the airplane to begin flying lessons. The ceremonial delivery occurred at Wichita’s Yingling Aircraft facility, where SkyCatchers are assembled after arriving from the factory in […]

Last week, Gulfstream announced the first flight of its large-cabin, mid-range G250 business jet. Classed as a super mid-size, the G250 was designed in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries and the first flight departed from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. It follows the first flight of Gulfstream’s ultra-long-range, large-cabin G650 just days earlier […]

Cessna will close three subassembly plants in Columbus, Georgia, including its McCauley Propeller factory and a new 100,000-square-foot facility opened in August 2008 at a cost of about $25 million. The closings will take place within six months to two years and will claim the jobs of some 315 workers in Georgia, whose numbers had […]

Especially in times of economic strife, new industry players live and die by news about their economic standing. That’s why it was so critical for German Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) manufacturer Remos to announce a new source of funding last week. The fresh funding came from a combination of Remos’ two main shareholders — Munich’s […]

Warren Buffett is fond of saying that you don’t know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out. Well, the tide has gone way out on the fractional jet ownership business, and everyone involved is swimming naked, or at least is down to the skimpiest of Speedos. And that’s why CitationShares has remade its […]

For the second time in a week, Gulfstream rolled out a new model of business jet when the super midsize G250 taxied briskly into view of a crowd at Israel Aerospace Industries in Tel Aviv in early October. The G250, which is owned by Gulfstream, will be assembled by IAI and then flown to Gulfstream […]

At first glance the main changes in the new Cessna Recreational/Private Pilot Training Course appear to be the fact that it’s now an online course and that the course includes specific videos and graphics pertaining to the new Cessna SkyCatcher. But while those features are significant, they are not the biggest or most significant improvements […]

At the National Business Aviation Association Convention in late October, Embraer announced a new model, the Legacy 650, a large-body bizjet based on the company’s popular EMB 145 regional jet. The airplane is an outgrowth of the Legacy 600, the company’s first business jet. Embraer has delivered 179 Legacy 600s. It will continue to produce […]