Turboprops

A decade ago when Piper introduced its new single-engine turboprop, the Piper Meridian, nobody was quite sure what to make of it. How would it coexist in Piper’s lineup with the popular pressurized piston single Malibu Mirage, on which the Meridian is based? And perhaps most importantly, would a new, expensive-to-develop turboprop single save Piper […]

The Beech King Air 350 is for people who want to make their airplane budget in ink, not pencil. Its rugged design, more than 40 years of heritage and robust systems make the 350 one of the most dependable and predictable turbine airplanes around. The entire King Air fleet has logged an estimated 40 million […]

With a crop of very light jets (VLJs) in development it’s interesting to look back at another would be revolution in airplane design, the Lear Fan. In the late 1970s inventor and promoter Bill Lear conceived a turboprop airplane that would have twin engines driving a single propeller mounted on the tail. The airplane was […]

Extra has introduced a new, turboprop version of its Extra 400 six-seat single. The EA-500 will be built at the company’s new 64,500-square-foot production facility at Dinslaken Airport near D?sseldorf, Germany. The EA-500 was the logical progression for Extra from the certified EA-400 six-place pressurized single, which makes use of the Continental Voyager liquid-cooled engine. […]