Aircraft

What a world. I had just landed the Dornier Seastar flying boat in the Gulf of Mexico a few miles off the Florida coast. We shut down the engines and were sitting on top of the Seastar cabin enjoying the view and wishing for a fishing pole when Dornier Seaplane Co. CEO Joe Walker called […]

Following certification in mid-December, Embraer Executive Aircraft delivered the first customer Phenom 300 business jet before year end. The timing enabled Tug Hill, Inc., a Texas-based oil and gas investment firm, to qualify for bonus tax depreciation on aircraft delivered in 2009. The Phenom 300, serial number 5, replaces a Cessna Conquest I twin turboprop […]

Last week, Cessna has announced the resumption of production of its Sovereign twinjet. The company also announced it had hired back 60 workers, with 120 more to be reinstated in the coming weeks. Even with the announcement, Cessna now plans to build even fewer jets in 2010 than the 275 it delivered last year. That […]

Flying Editor Emeritus Richard Collins once told me he preferred not seeing his airplane all torn apart during its annual inspection. And there is certainly no stauncher advocate of doing maintenance right. He just chose to keep the elbow grease at arm’s length, and it worked just fine for him. Owner participation in the annual […]

Despite the lingering recession, in late November, Gulfstream reached yet another 2009 milestone when company test pilots made the successful first flight of the newest Gulfstream business jet, the ultralong-range G650. The flight was unusually short, just 12 minutes, as the pilots, Jake Howard and Tom Horne, along with flight engineer Bill Osborne, returned for […]

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: Would it be possible to build/rebuild a V-22 homebuilt to meet the Light Sport Aircraft maximum weight of 1,430 […]

Eclipse Aerospace LLC, which acquired the rights to the former Eclipse Aircraft Co. last August, reports it is upgrading and completing 28 new Eclipse 500s it acquired as part of the deal. The new company, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, expects to be selling the factory-new aircraft as early as this spring. Investors Mike Press […]

Teledyne Continental Motors is doing its part for economic recovery. The company issued a release early this week indicating it will keep a lid on prices for factory new and factory rebuilt engines. Improved efficiencies and “cooperation with our valued employees and vedors,” have allowed TCM to lower costs, and it intends to reinvest the […]

Sonex Aircraft hopes to launch the first flight of its SubSonex single-engine jet as soon as acceptable weather breaks in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (the company’s home base). Its Czech-built PBS TJ-100 engine was first run on Dec. 23, 2009, and was able to hit 100 percent power — about 240 pounds of thrust. It’s larger than […]

Embraer recently revealed a number of intriguing new details on the Legacy 450 and 500, the midsize jets that it officially launched 18 months ago. The jets are still a couple of years away from first deliveries, but Embraer has already defined them in great detail. At face value, it might seem that Embraer picked […]