Pistons

The Piper Super Cub was a popular inspiration for aircraft both certified and kit-built. Check out these modern look-alikes and how they compare to the classic. [Historical pricing included in this update from 2015 and preserved for the record.]

It’s a rare airplane that appears on the scene and hangs on, long after production has ended, not as a nod to nostalgia but because the airplane keeps letting pilots (or their bosses) do things they want to do. Be it making money transporting people and packages deep into mountainous terrain, keeping an eye on […]

Continuing a trend that has seen a number of players seek to “remanufacture” aging general aviation piston airplanes with new paint, fresh interiors, zero-time engines and extensive inspections inside and out, Yingling is the latest to want in on this market with the reimagined Ascend 172. The program, launched at EAA AirVenture in conjunction with […]

You may have been wondering what happened to the Liberty XL-2 — the two-seat carbon fiber airplane that became the first piston-powered model to be certified with a Fadec-equipped engine in 2004. After a few years of hibernation the type-design was picked up by Melbourne, Florida-based Discovery Aviation, which has just reopened the order book […]

Italian airplane maker Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam is quickly breaking into the certified market. After recently achieving EASA certification for its P2010 four-seat single, the company is hard at work on the 11-seat P2012 Traveller twin. The company says it is making good progress on the first prototype and expects to have the airplane completed by […]

Hartzell’s hailed three-blade propellers are becoming available on a growing number of high-performance piston airplanes, reducing the empty weight of the airplanes and improving performance. The latest STC additions include a list of Mooney models: the Mooney M20R Ovation, Ovation II, Ovation III, M20S Eagle and M20TN Acclaim. The STCs also includes airplanes that have […]

It’s not often that a grounded airplane design returns to the skies, but such will be the case for a Windecker Eagle currently in restoration. The airplane was designed in the 1960s. It was the first composite airplane to achieve certification and one of the first, if not the first, airplanes certified under Part 23 […]

You might not even have noticed, but the Cessna 182 has been out of production for the better part of the last three years. Would-be buyers of new Skylanes are painfully aware of this fact, and now they’re finally getting their wish. Cessna is putting the gasoline piston version of the Skylane back into production […]

Flight Resource LLC has achieved an STC to add a reversible MT propeller to the Aviat Husky. The new prop installation allows the Husky, whether equipped with skis, wheels or floats, much greater maneuverability as it can move in reverse. The reverse taxi is particularly useful for water operations where the maneuverability is affected by […]

One of the greatest aircraft compromises — in a good way — in history is Cessna’s franchise model, the 172 Skyhawk. The iconic Kansas-based airplane maker has turned out more than 40,000 of the sheet-metal birds since the model’s debut in 1956, and the utilitarian singles continue to roll down the line and out the […]