Thomas Pallini A MagniX-modified and battery-powered Cessna Grand Caravan. MagniX A US company has taken to the skies in the world’s largest electric aircraft, a modified Cessna Grand Caravan. Departing from Moses Lake, Washington, the aircraft flew around for 30 minutes before returning safely without using aviation fuel. The flightRead More →
From 3500 feet up California is a glorious patchwork quilt of green and gold, textured by rippling mountains and shining water. Ahead of us we see the Carquinez Bridge and the Bay; behind us, the fingers of Lake Berryessa curl into the steep hills. Twenty minutes ago I stood barefootRead More →
737 MAX certification flight in late June? Boeing says it is aiming to conduct a key certification test flight on its grounded 737 MAX in late June, Reuters reports two insiders to the recertification programme as saying. Boeing did not comment on the certification flight timing, but said late WednesdayRead More →
The world’s largest all-electric aircraft made its first successful flight on Thursday (May 28). A Cessna Caravan flew for around 30 minutes before landing back in Moses Lake, Washington, about 180 miles southeast of Seattle. The nine-seater plane is the brainchild of engine-maker magniX and aerospace firm AeroTEC. In DecemberRead More →
With the crash of a SAAF C-130BZ Hercules in Goma in early January, South Africa’s search and rescue mission capability is also woefully inadequate, particularly since the retirement of the SAAF 35 Squadron C-47TP turbine Dakota ‘Dakeltons’. Meanwhile across the south Atlantic, the industrious Brazilians got on with building theRead More →
To the delight of aircraft spotters and the confusion of most neutral observers, two of the Russian Air Force’s (VVS) Tupolev Tu-160 long-range supersonic strategic bombers touched down at Air Force Base Waterkloof on 25 October. TU-160 visits outside of Russia are so extraordinarily rare that South Africa is onlyRead More →
The Hawker-Siddley125 range was around for so long that many corporate flight departments tend to overlook it in favour of new and far more expensive biz-jets. And then in 2013 Hawker stopped building it, so now only exceptionally smart operators know how good it is. I was surprised when myRead More →
Boeing has created a new safety committee to oversee both design and manufacturing in a move the company said reaffirms its “longstanding commitment to aerospace safety and the safety of its products and services.” Called the Aerospace Safety Committee (ASC), this permanent office will be headed by retired Admiral EdmundRead More →
The pleasure – albeit transient – of owning a brand spanking new aircraft has become exponentially more expensive and thus out of the reach of many. The benefit of this for South Africa’s thankfully still deep repository of skills in aviation maintenance is a thriving industry refurbishing old aircraft. ITRead More →
Back in 1989, when the small Swiss plane maker Pilatus announced the PC-12 as its single engine King Air competitor, there was much disparaging the idea that senior business execs – with company money to burn on fuel – would trust their lives to a single engine turboprop. Turns outRead More →
