General Aviation Aircraft

Explore the world of general aviation aircraft with our reviews. Written from a pilot's perspective, these reviews provide fantastic insight into what these general aviation planes are really like.

Saturday, March 1, 2008 Cessna Skyhawk: Four-Seat Trainer? When does it make sense to train in a $220,000, four-seater when you could use a $140,000, two-place model instead? Bill Cox, Photography by James Lawrence I have a friend who recently began flight training in a Skyhawk. Pete is one of those future pilots you just know won’t have any problems with the private-pilot course. He knows cars, drives a Porsche, understands things mechanical and doesn’t have any inherent fear of attitudes more complicated than vertical (standing up) and horizontal (lying down).

Saturday, March 1, 2008 The Zenith Of LSAs Zenith Aircraft of Mexico, Mo., builds durable, all-metal, light-sport aircraft with an emphasis on fun Bill Cox, Photography by James Lawrence In some respects, Steve Smith is exactly the kind of pilot for whom LSAs were designed. Smith is a 53-year-old entrepreneur in Santa Rosa, Calif., who owns a software company and only began flying a little over a year ago.

Friday, February 1, 2008 10 Things To Look For In An LSA Use your heart and your brain when considering your LSA purchase Randy S. Bolinger Aviation is experiencing an exciting transformation. At one point, a GA aircraft wouldn’t show signs of obsolescence for, let’s say, 30 years or so, give or take a decade. Those days are gone. Today, technological advances find their way into airframes and cockpits at an ever-increasing speed.

Friday, February 1, 2008 The Cessna Buyer's Guide Which one is right for you? During the private flying boom in the early ’50s, America fell in love with Cessna Aircraft Company’s high-wing singles. By the mid-’70s, Cessna had built more single-engine airplanes than any other manufacturer (100,000 by 1978). In the late ’70s, production peaked for all new airplanes, including Cessna singles, and then sharply tapered off (the production line was actually dormant from 1987 to 1996).

Friday, February 1, 2008 Seneca V: Little Big Twin When most twins disappeared in the ‘80s, the Piper Seneca soldiered on. Twenty years later, it’s one of only five multis still in production. Bill Cox, Photography by James Lawrence At the risk of compromising my alleged objectivity, I have to confess a soft spot for the Piper Seneca. Back in the late ’70s, I spent two years with a Seneca II company airplane. I logged 500 hours in that twin, flying all over the States, Bahamas and Canada—operating solo or with six on board—and bouncing off strips from below sea level to America’s highest airport (located in Leadville, Colo.) at nearly 10,000 feet MSL.

Friday, February 1, 2008 Cessna 195: Getting Down To Business Cessna’s postwar, art-deco Businessliner neither outsold nor outran the model 35 Bonanza, but it outclassed practically every other lightplane in the sky Bill Cox, Photography by James Lawrence There’s no precise way to define taste, but it is possible to define class. Okay, perhaps class can also be difficult to define, but most of us feel it’s easy to recognize. To paraphrase a totally unknown art critic/congressman/pundit, “I can’t define class, but I know it when I see it.”

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 Cirrus SR22-G3: Brazil Or Bust! After our first flight in the newest Cirrus over San Francisco, we couldn’t wait to fly one all the way to Brazil Wow, now that’s a lot of trees. I’m 9,500 feet over the Amazon rain forest, and the only thing I see from horizon to horizon is a bumpy carpet that’s toned British-racing green. A couple days ago, I set off from the Cirrus plant in Duluth, Minn., for what was then a distant port, pointing the nose of this spanking-new Cirrus SR22-G3 south and saying to myself, as I climbed to my initial cruise altitude, “São Paulo or bust.”

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 SIAI-Marchetti SF.260: Bellisimo In Tre Dimensioni Yeah, it’s Italian, and if you’re thinking “flying Ferrari or Lamborghini,” you’re ABSOLUTELY right Bill Cox, Photography By Jessica Ambats Just as I’m about to squeeze the trigger, the airplane ahead jinks into a tight, descending right turn, wings nearly perpendicular to the ground, pulling hard. I’m caught a little off guard and wrap my airplane over, slightly past vertical, trying to catch up. The adrenaline pumps, and I pull too hard and push the G-meter to 5.0, right into the stall buffet.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 Gosh, It’s A Gobosh With a name derived from the phrase, “Go big or stay home,” the Polish Gobosh is an LSA with attitude Bill Cox, Photography By James Lawrence If there was ever any question regarding the viability of the LSA market, Cirrus and Cessna pretty much erased those concerns with announcements of their own LSAs at AirVenture 2007. Both companies obviously hope to lure new pilots to their step-up models.

Saturday, December 1, 2007 Micco SP26A: Capable Aerobat This is that rare machine: a fun gentleman’s aerobat capable of cross-country travel or a Saturday-afternoon hamburger flight Bill Cox, Photography By James Lawrence Two-seaters have a special place in general aviation. The most common mission for two-place airplanes is pilot training. Say “two seats,” and most pilots automatically envision models such as the Cessna 150, Diamond DA20, Beech Skipper and Piper Tomahawk.

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