Aircraft

The Catalina was born on the frigid shores of Lake Erie in 1928 when Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, then located in Buffalo, assembled the XPY-1 prototype of a long-range flying patrol boat for the U.S. Navy. It’s ironic that the airplane that would become a symbol of World War II in the South Pacific couldn’t even […]

The Beech King Air 350 is for people who want to make their airplane budget in ink, not pencil. Its rugged design, more than 40 years of heritage and robust systems make the 350 one of the most dependable and predictable turbine airplanes around. The entire King Air fleet has logged an estimated 40 million […]

The Continental IO-550P engine with what are called “cross-flow” heads is the latest in piston engine technology. Versions of the engine are used in new Cirrus and Columbia airplanes where they have become legendary for their power output. Now Atlantic Aero in Greensboro, North Carolina, is offering what they call 550 Tuned Induction Conversions for […]

Four of the last five airplanes that I bought were new. The one that wasn’t new had but 500 hours on it. That was years ago, the last being in 1979. Still, I know the real thrill that comes from getting a brand-new airplane and being the only person, other than the test pilot, who […]

Some readers might remember that starting back about five years I wrote a series of articles about my experiences flying with two separate small airplane fractional ownership operations: OurPlane and AirShares Elite. The experiences were very positive, and I came to believe that shared ownership (as it came to be called) would be a major […]

Whenever I’m around a Pilatus PC-12, either standing on the ramp, or inside the cockpit or cabin, I am dazzled by the size of this turboprop single. The wingspan is more than 53 feet. The tail is 14 feet above the pavement. And the cabin is as roomy as some midsize business jets. The PC-12 […]

The best way that I can think of to describe Cessna’s new light jet Mustang is that it is, in all respects, a Citation. That means it has pleasant and predictable flying qualities, uncomplicated and robust systems, good payload and range, and it delivers on all of the promises Cessna made when it introduced the […]

“Columbia 2536 Tango is cleared to the I69 airport, direct Hagerstown VOR, then as filed, maintain 4,000, departure on 134.15, squawk 0510.” I have gotten that same route clearance many times in my P210 and to take the measure of the new Columbia 400 I would run it out and back over this familiar 320-nm […]

With a crop of very light jets (VLJs) in development it’s interesting to look back at another would be revolution in airplane design, the Lear Fan. In the late 1970s inventor and promoter Bill Lear conceived a turboprop airplane that would have twin engines driving a single propeller mounted on the tail. The airplane was […]