Ownership

Nothing says Cub like the iconic yellow-with-lightning-bolt paint scheme of the J-3 but some buyers of Cub derivatives are looking for something a little more distinctive. CubCrafters’ John Whitish showed an especially dynamic design at Sun ‘n Fun earlier this year. view on YouTube

With minimal fanfare, composite propellers have been appearing as original equipment on more and more airplanes and more and more owners are finding that they are an option for their airplanes when it comes time for an overhaul or replacement. Composite props are more expensive than their aluminum counterparts, so we were curious why owners […]

The FAA issued a final Airworthiness Directive on Tuesday that will affect 23,643 airplanes in the Piper fleet, mainly PA-28 and PA-32 models in the Cherokee line. The AD, which was issued to clarify the requirements of an earlier AD issued in 1995, takes effect Aug. 15. It requires that owners or operators of airplanes […]

The Falcon 5X, an all-new widebody business jet by Dassault Aviation, has flown for the first time, the company has announced. The flight lasted for two hours. The Safran Silvercrest engines installed on the test plane are a “preliminary version,” Dassault said. According to the company, “design issues” have delayed the engine’s development four years […]

As the FAA sorts out the mess created when its drone registration rule was struck down by the courts, it’s already thinking about taking the registration requirement to the next level and requiring operators to transmit their registration information. The drone website wetalkuav.com reported that the first meeting of the FAA’s UAS Identification and Tracking […]

A French company has received EASA and Canadian certification for an aftermarket exhaust system that could substantially reduce noise complaints at training airports. Epagny-based Chabord has developed exhaust systems for Cessna 150, 152 and 172 aircraft it says cut the noise from them by at least half. It has “certified silent exhaust systems” for other […]

If you’ve never wandered the pits at the Reno Air Races, you’re missing out. I’ve crewed twice (crewing gets you a pit pass)—once in Formula One and again in Sport Class—and can’t imagine going to Reno without a pit pass. There are so many amazing people, conversations, and airplanes. While you could simply purchase a […]

Nextant, the Cleveland, Ohio, company that takes in older aircraft and remanufactures them with fresh upgrades, has announced a new “incremental” upgrade program for the Beech 400A/Hawker 400XP twinjet aircraft. The full conversion to an XTi costs about $3 million, the company says, a cost that “not everyone is able to justify.” Now Nextant is […]

The first Cessna Citation Longitude jet rolled out of the hangar in Wichita on Tuesday. Production of the new clean-sheet design super-midsize business jet has benefited from new manufacturing systems, the company said. “We’re incorporating a number of new and innovative fabrication and assembly techniques that will improve processes, reduce the number of parts and […]

Bell Helicopter’s 505 Jet Ranger X is now certified by the FAA, the company has announced. The aircraft, which falls into the short light-single class of helicopters, incorporates “the latest advancements in safety and aviation technology,” according to Bell CEO Mitch Snyder. Customer response from around the world has been “outstanding,” he added, with about […]