Turboprops

First—we can all be glad we’re headed back to Vegas. In 2019, when the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) last held its Business Aviation Convention and Expo (BACE), the optimistic mood and clear, warm weather belied the storms that lay ahead in 2020 for the aviation industry—and the world. Between keynotes, education sessions, owner-pilot forums, […]

Blackhawk Aerospace says it is developing an supplemental type certificate (STC) for the Pilatus PC-12, replacing the PT6A turboprop engine with a new, more powerful model. The single engine turboprop conversion builds on Blackhawk’s success with Cessna’s Caravan series of aircraft. The news was announced at a press conference at the National Business Aviation Association’s […]

Even before his colleagues had lifted the curtain on what’s arguably Honeywell’s biggest leap forward since the company’s Primus Epic was first announced in late 1996, Jason Bialek, product line director for Honeywell Aerospace, asked the pointed question: “What is the biggest challenge to solve in a pilot-centered flight deck?” One initial answer: How do […]

Textron Aviation announced Thursday that with the stroke of a pen, it had passed an important milestone in the progression of its latest King Air models—the 260 and the 360/360ER—with the certification of both under EASA. The approval means that customer deliveries of the workhorse turboprop can begin across Europe. “EASA certification begins a whole […]

As I stood on the Textron Aviation ramp in Wichita, Kansas, for my first look at the company’s new turboprop flagship, the King Air 360, I slipped back in time to a different era and form of transportation: cars (muscle cars as they called them). My pal Lennie had just bought a brand-new, fire-engine-red Chevrolet […]

Textron Aviation has completed the initial ground-test runs of the GE Aviation Catalyst engine on the Beechcraft Denali at one of the company’s facilities in Wichita, Kansas. The clean-sheet design Catalyst was put through its paces to determine its baseline operational status and fuel system functionality. The powerplant’s interface with the avionics and electrical system […]

GE Aviation’s Catalyst engine will be the company’s first, all-new clean sheet turboprop engine in 50 years, according to the company’s website. It borrows many technologies from GE’s big engine business to create a full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) turboprop that—if it lives up to expectations—is certain to give Pratt & Whitney Canada’s venerable PT6 […]

When Textron Aviation first announced the single-engine turboprop Denali in 2015, it was assumed the aircraft would be branded as a Cessna product. On July 20, Textron Aviation announced the new turboprop will become the single-engine aircraft under the Beechcraft brand family with the King Air 260 and 360/360ER as part of the company’s high-performance […]

Epic Aircraft announced on July 15 that it had received the type certificate from the FAA for its next generation version of the E1000, the GX. The E1000 GX—which replaces the original E1000—features the updated Garmin GFCTM 700 automated flight control system and a Hartzell 5-blade composite propeller. The GFCTM’s advanced altitude and heading reference […]

When the original Midway Airlines closed its doors a few decades ago, they took away one of the best flying jobs I’d ever had up to that point. Luckily, the opportunity to fly right seat on a business jet appeared, though I knew next to nothing about business aviation at the time. The chief pilot […]