Experimentals

On a clear day in January 2010, I took-off from Montgomery Airport in San Diego, California, in my highly modified RV-6A (christened The Feral Chihuahua) for Jacksonville, Florida. Twenty-four hours later, I landed back at San Diego, having successfully crisscrossed the United States. It was an official NAA round-trip transcontinental aviation speed record. This is […]

The sun was just peeking through the windows of tech support when Jim set down his morning coffee to answer the cell phone. “Hi, Jim? Would you be able to walk me through dressing a deer?” Caught by surprise and used to always doing his best to help the customer, Jim stammered the first thing […]

The builder of a replica of the Bugatti 100p racing plane was killed in the crash of the aircraft in Oklahoma on Saturday. NewsOn6 reported Scotty Wilson, of Tulsa, was flying the aircraft when it went down near Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base in west central Oklahoma. The aircraft was copied from a 1930s design by […]

Having been around for two decades, the four-place Bearhawk EAB is prized for its large payload and STOL capability, and at AirVenture 2016, the company is unveiling the new Bearhawk Bravo. The B gets aRiblett 30-413.5 airfoil that delivers better speed, similar stall speeds and greater stall stability over the NACA 4412 used in the […]

The latest version of the Airbus Group’s E-Fan “Plus” twin-engine demonstrator aircraft is on display this week at EAA AirVenture, providing insight into how the company’s vision has evolved as they experiment with the new technology. The E-Fan on display is a hybrid version, with longer flight range and more endurance than the original all-electric […]

In a new video posted online this week, eVolo shows the latest unmanned flight tests of its VTOL electric-powered Volocopter. The tests, which took place in Germany last month, demonstrated various dynamic flight maneuvers at higher speeds for the first time. “These test flights did not only serve as a presentation of possible flight dynamics,” […]

Powered only by sunlight, the Solar Impulse aircraft has completed its odyssey around the planet, and landed tonight back in Abu Dhabi, where it took off in March 2015. Bertrand Piccard flew the final leg, and guided the airplane in to the airport where he was greeted by dozens of crew members, a marching band […]

Sonex aims to work with local partners to promote the idea of home-building airplanes from kits in China, the company said this week in a news conference at EAA AirVenture. Sonex will work with Francis Chao, of the Beijing Aviation Technology Company, to promote its line of kit airplanes and help grow the base of […]

Amid the rapid growth of China’s aviation industry, there’s a movement afoot to bring personal flying, including homebuilding, into the general public. Among its advocates is aviation business consultant Francis Chao. His company, Uniworld, recently expanded its North American partnerships to include kitplane maker Sonex Aircraft. Chao talked to AVweb’s Elaine Kauhduring AirVenture 2016 about […]

Rans Aircraft has its latest new kit airplane design on static display at EAA AirVenture this week, the S-21 Outbound, featuring a 180-hp Titan engine and STOL capability. “This is exciting for us,” said designer Randy Schlitter, “building a big two-seater with a lot of power and aerodynamics that allow both a 150-mph-plus cruise and […]