Pistons

There are certain ungainly looking airplanes whose great utility and flying manners bring with them a kind of charm that belies their looks. The GippsAero GA8 Airvan might just be this kind of airplane. With its squared-off features and asymmetrical shape, it is kind of an odd duck, the kind that no pilot walks by […]

Icon Aircraft, the maker of the hotly anticipated Icon A5 amphib, said it has begun a close collaboration with carmaker Lotus to help design the light sport airplane’s automotive-inspired interior. Icon said Lotus Engineering USA has been brought onboard because of its experience designing and mass-producing lightweight vehicle components. The work is focusing on the […]

Following FAA and EASA certification a few years prior, Transport Canada has given the official thumbs up to both the regular and special-mission versions of the Diamond DA42 NG. While Diamond continues to wait on Transport Canada’s okay for DA42 NG flight into known icing conditions, the company says the new certification will allow it […]

Pipistrel took the wraps off its super-efficient Panthera four-seater this week at the Aero Expo in Friedrichshafen, Germany, giving avgeeks a first glimpse at the aircraft that boasts a 1,000 nm range and a cruise speed of 200 knots, all while burning a mere 10 gallons of gasoline per hour. The prototype unveiled at the […]

Take an engine from a 1970s Ford, Toyota or Chevy and put it next to one built today, and the differences are easy to spot. Dig down into the performance and economy figures, and there’s no comparison between the 30-plus-year-old technology and today’s — the newer engines are better in almost every way imaginable, with […]

We at Flying know airplanes pretty well, but when it comes to flying cars (or “roadable aircraft” as the manufacturers prefer to call them), we have questions just like you. So on the eve of the New York International Auto Show, where Terrafugia is bringing its flying . . . er . . . roadable […]

Diamond Aircraft has made the first flight of its new all-composite twin-engine model, the DA52. First flight, made by Diamond Chairman Christian Dries and Diamond test pilot Ingmar Mayerbuch, went off without a hitch. In fact, after the flight Dries said that the DA52 was “the best prototype aircraft I have ever made a maiden […]

Start up LSA manufacturer Terrafugia reached an important milestone the other week with the first flight of the production prototype version of its roadable airplane, called the Transition. The short sortie — it lasted but eight minutes and went only as high as 1,400 feet agl within the vicinity of the Plattsburg, New York, airport […]

The launch of the 2012 Cirrus SR22 is noteworthy thanks to a couple of new features but even more so because, in aggregate, this is the year that the Cirrus SR22 has really arrived at the top of the heap. Back in the 1960s, the launches of a new model year’s airplanes used to be […]

Italian aircraft maker Tecnam, which is perhaps best known for its LSA models but which is now branching out in new directions, has issued a progress report on one of those new models, the four-place P-2010, which, taking a page out of Cessna’s Citation X/Ten playbook, it has nicknamed the Twenty-Ten. The to-be-certified model is […]