Meet the Vashon Ranger, a new LSA that’s ready to roll after years in top-secret development. The airplane is the pet project of Dynon Avionics owner John Torode, who has a liking for all-metal planes with high wings—he’s got a Beaver and a 185 on floats. Five years ago, Torode hired aircraft developer Ken Kruger, more »

As the biggest aviation get-together in the country, EAA’s AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, always attracts some interesting airshow performers. This year’s list is starting to take shape and it includes such adventurous entries as a Yak-110. For those of you who are scratching your heads, you’re not alone. We weren’t entirely sure what it was more »

Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about where the de-icing fluid goes when it runs off the plane. That said, clearly it doesn’t just disappear…which brings up the question of how to safely deal with the leftover chemicals. Rather than just dispose of the used fluid, one company, Inland Technologies, has been recapturing more »

For aficionados of the light stuff, 2018 officially kicks off in Sebring, FL, on Wednesday, the first day of the Sebring Sport Aviation Expo. The show, now in its 14th year (yeah, we were surprised too!), has been growing over the years while still maintaining its attendee-friendly atmosphere. Sebring is a show where attendees can more »

The Graflight V8 diesel engine from EPS is coming, though the company says that the engine will certify in 2018, about a year later than it had originally planned. The program delay was the result, says CEO and co-founder Michael Fuchs, of software development complexities that he says are a function of the engine being more »

Winter doesn’t have to mean leaving the plane in the hangar, especially if you happen to have a plane equipped with skis. Though we usually think of it as the off season for fly-ins up north, there are still opportunities to pack some snow boots and a good pair of preflight gloves and meet up more »

With the FAA recently reporting its 1 millionth UAS registration, it’s no surprise that discussions about drone regulation are getting even more serious. Several states, including most recently New Jersey, have already enacted laws governing how unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can be flown within their borders. Many others are working on similar legislation. The New more »

Pilots who’ve flown into Wichita’s Eisenhower National Airport (KICT), which most pilots still call Midcontinent, are so familiar with the approaches to Runways 19L and 19R that it almost defies imagination that the experience is going away. But it is. As pilots, we have cause to know a bit more about the Earth’s magnetic field more »

When it comes to airborne delivery systems—be it crop dusting or firefighting—Thrush Aircraft has plenty of experience, which makes the company’s recently announced a plan to begin development of an unmanned tanker aircraft for fighting wildfires particularly interesting. Even more interesting is that the company will be collaborating with UAS manufacturer Drone America for the more »

The Liberty XL-2 is back in the air after its current owner, Discovery Aviation of Melbourne, Florida, announced that it had sold a pair of the trainers to a flight training organization in South Korea. The two-seat single had been out of production since 2008. The XL-2, to editorialize just a bit, is a cool more »

The outgoing FAA administrator, Michael Huerta, had his last day at work on January 6th. Though an official replacement has yet to be named, deputy administrator Daniel Elwell has stepped into the role of acting administrator, and his elevation casts doubt on the continuing strong relationship between the FAA and general aviation. Elwell was appointed more »

The City of Santa Monica opened Runway 3/21 for business late last year, and as you’re no doubt aware, it’s a lot shorter than it used to be. The shortening was approved as part of a backroom agreement with the FAA that will allow the city presumably to shut down the airport at some future more »

With the proliferation of self-recorded adventure footage on social media, it’s hard to believe that camera-maker GoPro could be in financial trouble. And yet, that is exactly what seems to be happening. This week, GoPro announced that not only will will be backing out of the drone business entirely, but it will also be laying more »

While John Young wasn’t as well known as several of his fellow lunar strollers, it’s impossible to understand why he wasn’t. Young was one of the most accomplished of a dizzying assortment of high achievers in the astronaut ranks. He was the commander of Apollo 16. On that mission in 1972, Young commanded the lunar more »

The story of the loss of a Cirrus SR22 yesterday due to apparent pilot incapacitation has been discussed exclusively in terms of a tragedy, and it most likely is just that. While it’s not likely, it is possible that the pilot of the SR22 could have survived an engine-out crash into the Gulf even if more »

There are plenty of fire containment products on the market made for dealing with lithium ion batteries in personal electronic devices (PEDs) that overheat and catch fire in flight. Several of them claim to be “FAA certified,” “successfully tested by the FAA” or “[meet] FAA standards.” That all sounds good except for the fact that more »

The E2C (Experimental to Certified) wave of activity continues to change the value of older airplanes, and this week’s announcement by Garmin that it had earned FAA approval for its GFC 500 autopilot in a “wide range of” Cessna 172 and 182s is accelerating that trend. The new autopilot is a digital model that features more »

Last summer at AirVenture, Vulcanair promised that its 4-seat, all-metal single—the V1.0—would be certified in the U.S. by the end of the year. Though it was down to the wire, FAA approval officially came through on December 20, 2017. The Vulcanair V1.0 has been operating in Europe since receiving EASA certification in 2013. The plane more »