Ownership

If you were asked to describe the great technological challenge of the age, what would it be? Cracking fusion as an energy source? The 1000 wh/kg lithium-ion battery? Cheap turbine engines made of plastic? For me, it would be a flashlight that does what its supposed to for, say, at least a year after purchase. […]

Owners who fancy a little light aerobatics—or even semi-serious competition—might lust after a Pitts S1 or an Extra 300. But then reality sets in. Those airplanes require no small degree of skill to simply fly safely and that’s before we consider the insurance premiums. And that’s why so many owners inevitably gravitate toward the American […]

Diamond’s still-in-development DA52 got a name change on Wednesday. It will now be known as the DA62, a move the company said is supposed to provide it some addition product identity. We are renaming the DA52 to improve differentiation from our DA42 series that continues indefinitely in parallel production, said Christian Dries, CEO of Diamond […]

A California company says it’s the first to fly a passenger in a solar-powered airplane. Solar Flight, of Ramona, Calif., launched its Sunseeker Duo from Milan, Italy, with both of the company’s founders, Irena and Eric Raymond, in the spacious side-by-side cabin.”Sunseeker Duois now officially the first solar powered airplane to carry two people,” the […]

SkyCrafts SD-1 single-place Minisport has completed flight testing successfully, meeting all the performance requirements needed for S-LSA Certification. According to the companys report, the aircraft has good longitudinal and latitudinal stability and exhibited no issues with flutter, vibration or dangerous stall/spin tendencies. SkyCraft was able to verify the performance specifications for the SD-1 achieved by […]

The last plane to undergo maintenance inside Boeing Wichitas facility, an E-4B, started its engines and took off Thursday. It flew to the south, then gracefully turned back north for a final goodbye pass before disappearing from sight. A fixture in Wichita, Kan., since 1927, Boeing once employed as many as 40,000 people there. It […]

That’s not a Beech, and it didn’t just roll off the line. It’s Joe Shepherd’s immaculately restored Lockheed 12A Electra Junior. We got story on this aircraft (and a good look at it) at Sun ‘n Fun 2014. Learn more here. view on YouTube

Thank goodness there are passionate and determined owners of vintage aircraft in this world. Due to people such as Joe Shepherd, the lives of we who are crazy about flying machines have been vastly enriched because we get to see the results of their passion fly rather than gather dust. Shepherd owns, and regularly operates, […]

The Lear 60 is a fast, affordable business jet. But like most airplanes, it could do well with additional baggage space. Raisbeck Engineering, a well-known STC house, has developed just such a product. AVweb takes a look at it in this brief product video. view on YouTube

Calling it a “new paradigm in aviation propulsion,” test pilot Dick Rutan completed the first flight of the quiet new Graflight V-8 diesel engine from the Mojave airport, on May 2. The engine was installed in a modified Cirrus SR22. The test flight took about 20 minutes, staying at altitudes 5,000 feet and less. The […]