Interesting Airplanes

Bloomberg is reporting that Boeing has decided to end production of the 747 after the current backlog of 16 airplanes, most of them freighters, is delivered. That would put the final delivery in 2023 since it now takes about two months to build each of the iconic airliners. Bloomberg is the only one making the […]

After a 16-year history with more twists and turns than a Robert Ludlum novel, Epic Aircraft has delivered two certified E1000 high-performance single turboprops and plans to fill its order book as soon as possible. The Bend, Oregon, company, which occupies the former Columbia/Cessna facilities at the airport there, has orders from all over the […]

Textron flew its new Cessna SkyCourier utility twin turboprop for the first time on Sunday and all went well according to the pilots. The high-wing hauler took off from Beech Field Airport with senior test pilot Corey Eckhart and chief test pilot Aaron Tobias up front and flew for two hours and 15 minutes. “We […]

Citizens aren’t the only ones isolated these days and a New Jersey pilot took advantage of the empty skies in what is normally the world’s busiest airspace with a video tour of the big three New York airports in his RV-8 last week. “I flew my RV-8 from Caldwell, NJ to EWR>LGA>JFK the other day […]

The FAA has published proposed new rules that would set noise limits for a new generation of supersonic civilian aircraft. The existing regs don’t account for supersonic aircraft. Regulations acknowledging the unique requirements of supersonic aircraft will have to be in place when any of several companies now developing supersonic business jets apply for type […]

A U.S. company will soon have a fleet of fighters that will rival that of some small countries. Air USA, which is a flight training contractor to the U.S. Air Force, is buying 46 former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) first generation F/A-18 Hornets. The U.S. Navy only recently retired the Hornet and the Marines […]

Bell Helicopters unveiled a 429 modified with four electrically driven tail rotors that it says has proven the concept over almost a year of testing. The Electrically Distributed Anti-Torque (EDAT) system has been flying since last May from the company’s Mirabel, Quebec, facilities and it works just fine. “This is the first time anyone in […]

Gulfstream’s new flagship G700 business jet had its first flight on Friday. The flight lasted two hours and 32 minutes and covered all the basic flight characteristics and system checks. The company says it’s on track to deliver airplanes in 2022 under an aggressive development campaign that it also managed to keep under wraps for […]

Airbus officially introduced its Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls (MAVERIC) blended wing body technological demonstrator on Tuesday at the 2020 Singapore Airshow. Airbus believes the design could “reduce fuel consumption by up to 20 percent compared to current single-aisle aircraft.” The remote-controlled scale model demonstrator measures 2 meters (about 6.56 […]

Those dreaming of a Dreamliner for a $26 raffle ticket were brought back to earth on Friday when the Mexican government announced it will hang on to the presidential Boeing 787-8 for at least two more years. But it’s going ahead with the raffle to sell six million tickets at 500 pesos each and instead […]