Ownership

Because of design, certification and insurance costs, the OEM industry is hobbled with a rather arcane system of pricing replacement parts. When it comes to interior plastic parts—like a window molding, hinge cover or a glove box overlay, for example—a couple of dollars’ worth of plastic becomes a $400 part simply because of its unique […]

Icon Aircraft has pushed back customer deliveries until at least 2017 and has announced a major revision of its controversial purchase agreement. In a conference call held with invited aviation media representatives, CEO Kirk Hawkins cited manufacturing difficulties as the reason for the delivery delays. “We have to slow down so we can go fast,” […]

Cirrus has flown the first production Vision SF50 jet. Cirrus spokesman Ben Kowalski told the Grand Forks Heraldthe aircraft flew May 5 and performed as expected. “It demonstrated that we have implemented out a repeatable process on our production line and are prepared to begin initial production of the Vision Jet,” Kowalski told the Herald. […]

To remain a general aviation participant in good standing—or hell, just a participant of any standing—requires a certain resilience, an almost alien capacity to slough off disaster and munch gleefully on catastrophe. Rolling with the punches comes to mind, but somehow just doesn’t do justice to the gloom that pervades the aviation economy. Now that […]

The Cessna 182 series is one of the most popular and prolific all-purpose flying machines in the general aviation fleet. They are dependable, straightforward, and easy to fly. They are traded frequently on the market, and lots of people are looking to buy one at any given time. While the huge run-up in the cost […]

Wrapping up a marathon 10 days of travel this week, I was happy to get my mitts on and actually fly a real airplane. Not a drone operated from some air-conditioned trailer a half a world away or something powered by batteries that lack capacity or, more likely, something that exists only in a PowerPoint […]

Regardless of whether your aircraft is metal, composite, or tube and fabric, quite a few homebuilts these days use composite fairings. Nowhere is this more true than the engine cowl—it’s just not an easy shape to fabricate out of other materials. Unfortunately, for tightly-cowled installations, heat from proximity to exhaust pipes (or a turbo) can […]

Canadian authorities are investigating an incident that could potentially affect the airworthiness of thousands of Piper Cherokees. Manitoba flight instructor Tom Larkin was on short final with a student when the control column broke off in his hands. “Somewhere below 50 feet as I eased back on the control column to assist the student with […]

Hydrogen fuel cells have long been discussed as a potential power source for vehicles, including aircraft, and researchers at the German aerospace center, the DLR, believe that technical barriers can be overcome in the near term to make hydrogen a practical fuel source. Speaking at the first annual Sustainable Aviation Foundation symposium in Redwood City, […]

It has again become fashionable in some aviation circles to assert that if only we could return to ways and days of yore by getting rid of some or all of the Federal Aviation Regulations and those who enforce them, all would be well and general aviation would zoom into sunlit uplands and robust financial […]