Pistons

It’s been 45 years since Piper stretched the Cherokee fuselage to create the Six, and the much refined version of the airplane remains in production as the Saratoga II. That kind of production longevity is proof that Piper found an enduring market niche for the PA-32 family, and solid demand on the used market even […]

Diamond is selling a pair of brand new twins based on the company’s innovative DA42 design. The Austro diesel-powered DA42 NG is certified in Europe (EASA), with U.S. certification coming soon, and the Lycoming-powered DA42 L360 has just earned the FAA’s OK. I had the chance to fly both airplanes recently at Diamond’s North American […]

My test flight in Continental Motors’ developmental Cirrus SR22 was among the most unusual and interesting of my career. That was in part because I was testing a major mod of an airplane in which I have a lot of flying experience, and in part because I was glimpsing into the future by flying a […]

Rich Karlgaard is a late bloomer. At least, in terms of aviation. “I never had an itch to fly until I read a New York Times Sunday Magazine piece called “Turn Left at Cloud 109″ by James Fallows, which appeared on Thanksgiving weekend in 1999,” says Karlgaard. “It was about Cirrus. A couple of days […]

Part of my rationale, when I plunked my entire financial nest egg down to buy my 1977 Grumman Cheetah, over 10 years ago, was that I was buying a durable good. An asset that would probably hold or increase its value over time, so that if I ever needed some extra cash, I could sell […]

Diamond Aircraft has earned European certification for an Austro-engine-powered version of its Twin Star, the DA42 NG. The certification came on the heels of European certification of the Austro AE300 turbodiesel engine, developed by Diamond sister company Austro Engine for use in the revived twin. FAA approvals for both the airplane and engine are expected […]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ordered 10 Diamond DA42 L360 Twin Stars for use in its training programs at the Daytona campus. ERAU plans to take delivery of the airplanes and have them up and running in time for the start of the fall semester. The L360 version of the DA42 replaces the turbodiesel Thielert engines with […]

Cirrus Aircraft has introduced its lineup for 2009, and the new airplanes come with some very impressive available features. The big news is a known ice protection system, but there’s a raft of other recently announced upgrades, too, with a whole host of advanced acronyms available, EVS, SVT and FIKI, among many others, making the […]

Walking into the softly lit hangar for dinner this night was to enter a pilot’s dream house. In one corner was a 1932 Staggerwing 17R serial number one, the very first Beechcraft manufactured, standing proudly in her elegant wheel fairings; in another was a 1938 S18D Twin Beech serial number 178, the 11th Model 18 […]

Last year when Bend, Oregon, company Columbia Aircraft exhausted its last gasp efforts at getting enough cash to stay in business and declared bankruptcy, there was immediate speculation that Cessna would buy the company’s assets at auction. As it turned out, Cessna had been looking at that possibility for some time already. And by the […]