Engines

Steve Hinton Jr. set a record for the fastest speed recorded by a piston-powered aircraft over four 3-kilometer runs in early September and he spoke with AVweb’s Russ Niles at the National Championship Air Races about how that kind of flying compares to pylon racing at Reno. view on YouTube

Danny Clisham has been calling the World Championship Air Races in Reno for more than 35 years and he’s as excited about them now as he was when he started. Clisham says a new generation of race pilots will continue the tradition of using the latest technology to squeeze ever more speed out of machines […]

The all-time piston single speed record was set Saturday when Steve Hinton Jr. flew Voodoo, a highly modified P-51 Mustang, at an average speed of 531.53 mph over four runs at Clarks Ranch in remote central Idaho. His fastest run was 554.69 mph. His average speed beat Lyle Shelton’s record of 528.3 mph set in […]

An engine upgrade for the King Air 350 by Blackhawk Modifications, based in Waco, Texas, is now certified by the FAA, the company announced this week. The upgrade package includes two factory-new Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A engines, plus two new five-blade composite propeller assemblies and spinners from MT Propellers. Training, support and a warranty […]

If you have comments, questions or suggestions regarding the FAA’s recent Emergency Airworthiness Directive now in effect for hundreds of Lycoming engines, the FAA is ready to hear from you. The AD, which was published on Aug. 10 and officially took effect Aug. 15, went straight to Final Rule, meaning there was no prior public […]

The FAA Wednesday evening proposed an emergency airworthiness directive requiring owners of Lycoming engines to inspect and potentially replace off-spec connecting rod small-end bushings in Lycoming engines overhauled during the 2015 to 2016 time period. The AD codifies the procedures found in Lycoming’s Mandatory Service Bulletin SB 632 released last month. Although Lycoming says at […]

The Williams International FJ44-4A-QPM engine, which has been chosen by Pilatus to power its new PC-24 jet, is now type-certified by both the FAA and EASA, Williams announced on Monday. Production deliveries have already begun. Williams says the new engine features an anti-ice and noise-suppressing inlet, an integral pre-cooler to condition engine bleed air and […]

As the FAA’s technical testing of unleaded avgas replacements grinds on, owners and manufacturers are still wondering what the approved fuels will look like and whether they will be true drop-ins. At a briefing last month at AirVenture, three members of the FAA Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative offered an overview that warned that the clean […]

When I plopped my weary butt into a chair for Continental’s presser at AirVenture last month, what’s the first thing I see on the show-and-tell stand? A couple of Lycoming roller tappets and an angle-valve cylinder. Uh-oh, I thought, really bad timing for Lycoming. And it relates directly to what’s going on with the current […]

The magnetos we’ve been relying on to fire our aircraft’s spark plugs may be the trailing edge of technology, yet if cared for appropriately, they are remarkably reliable. It’s the cared for part of the equation that matters—because they do require regular maintenance, otherwise some failure modes can mean engine stoppage or even catastrophic engine […]