Ownership

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has announced the winner of its R. A. “Bob” Hoover Trophy. Legendary actor and passionate aviator Harrison Ford, who received the award last year, will present the trophy to Clay Lacy at an event on March 20. Lacy’s legacy in aviation is not likely to be matched. He has […]

Celebrating 70 years of airplane manufacturing, Kerrville, Texas-based Mooney International has launched several programs to help ease the path to ownership for the fastest single-engine piston airplane on the market. To help make ownership more predictable, the company introduced a promotion called “Fill and Fly,” essentially promising its M20U Ovation Ultra and M20V Acclaim Ultra […]

Icon Aircraft says it’s launching a fractional program for the A5 light-sport amphibian called Icon Fleet Access that is designed to allow easier and lower-cost ownership options. Icon announced a beta test for the managed fractional program at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh that will kick off this fall ahead of the official rollout of Icon Fleet […]

Most general aviation pilots dream at some point about owning an airplane. There are no substitutes for the ability to jump into your own airplane and take off wherever, whenever, without any scheduling, time restrictions and costly minimum daily requirements. Or are there? If you’re not flying at least 100 hours per year, full ownership […]

In the first program of its kind, Cirrus Aircraft is offering up to three days of training to anyone who buys a Cirrus airplane, even a used plane purchased through a private transaction. The goal of the Cirrus Embark program, launched yesterday, is to improve the Cirrus safety record even further. Since Cirrus launched its […]

The crisp Michigan air afforded a visibility of at least 30 or 40 miles as we approached Mackinac Island (KMCD) in Ken Ross’ Eclipse 550, N140NE. The airplane sported a jazzy black-and-gold paint job that already had me thinking the flight would be different from the one I’d taken in the original Eclipse nearly eight […]

In a recent feature, we outlined some of the reasons light-sport aircraft are experiencing a resurgence in the general aviation industry — and why now is a good time to look into LSA ownership. Whether you’re in the market for an LSA or just enjoy looking at interesting airplanes, the aircraft below will give you […]

Small, simple, affordable: From vintage Piper Cubs to Aeronca Champs, Ercoupes, Taylorcrafts and Luscombes, these are the airplanes that kindled America’s love affair with general aviation in the 1930s and post-war 1940s. Their common appeal, of course, centered on their minimalist approach to construction, which made them easy to repair when they broke down or […]

Cirrus Aircraft handed over the first customer SF50 Vision at an extravagant ceremony on Monday at its production facility in Duluth, Minnesota. The milestone caps a decade-plus-long effort to introduce to the aviation market the first single-engine personal jet. This initial customer Vision Jet, painted in an attractive red-and-white scheme that Cirrus calls Corso Red […]

After a fitful production start for the A5 light-sport aircraft, Icon Aircraft has regrouped. The company has built a composite factory in Mexico to “improve and control the manufacturing process while simultaneously reducing cost,” says Icon’s founder and CEO, Kirk Hawkins. While the new Tijuana-based composite shop is getting up and running, Icon has opened […]