Experimental Aircraft

Reno has returned to flight status—and in fine shape as the shadows of the pandemic have retreated. The 2021 National Championship Air Races wrapped up Sunday with the final races in most classes at the Reno-Stead International Airport in Nevada. The ghosts of the past have informed the racers of today. While protocols and attention […]

A week of fast flying in pictures of an awesome showcase gives a glimpse into the airmanship and sportsmanship on display.

Students from the Central Florida Aerospace Academy (CFAA) have completed the build of a Zenith 750 Cruzer kit airplane, with the finished project successfully making its first flight in late July 2021. The airplane is now being flown extensively for phase 1 testing by Andy Ovans, the aircraft maintenance manager for Sun n’ Fun Aerospace […]

Florida Tech has purchased a Velis Electro from Slovenian company Pipistrel. The purchase makes the school the first U.S. college to own and fly an electric airplane. “While we can teach students flight test techniques using older aircraft, having them test an airplane with the latest technology prepares them for contemporary designs,” said Brian Kish, […]

Sonex Aircraft has presented its first high-wing design, expanding its range with a new single-engine, piston-powered configuration. The company debuted the design on its website on Tuesday. Flying spoke with Sonex Aerospace CEO Mark Schaible about the news. “We’ve been working hard to finish the two-seat jet—it’s a natural evolution for us, with niche demand,” […]

Van’s Aircraft dropped a bomb at EAA’s AirVenture last week, announcing a—wait for it—high wing backcountry airplane. The company didn’t make a big deal of the major news and there was no official announcement. But Van’s vice president and COO Greg Hughes confirmed that the company is in the process of building an all-metal, high-wing […]

In a move that has caused aviation associations across the board to band together in protest, on July 12 the FAA released a “clarification” on flight training in experimental aircraft that puts into formal policy a letter of guidance issued in June. In effect, the new policy adds a requirement that AOPA’s president and CEO […]

The full breadth of general aviation aircraft offers something to suit every potential pilot—and that includes those that fall under special airworthiness categories. The rising popularity of experimental aircraft, such as the RV series from Van’s Aircraft, turns upon their high performance-to-cost ratio and a serious fun factor driven by models that range from fabric-covered […]

Let’s get this straight from the beginning: The Van’s Aircraft RV-14A is not an off-the-shelf airplane. Every one of them out in the wild is custom-built. Even its recommended 210 hp Lycoming Thunderbolt XIO-390 engine is hand-assembled, polished and ported by a select team of Lycoming employees. And the “A” denotes a nosewheel version, with […]

My friend Longbridge has been working for years—these things always take far longer than you think they will—on a Lancair 320 with a lot of airframe mods, the most conspicuous of which are a double-slotted Fowler flap, enlarged empennage surfaces, and leading-edge cuffs on the outer panels of the wings. And then there are the […]