Pilot Reports

Join AIN pilots/writers as they test fly business jets, turboprops, rotorcraft, and airliners featuring the latest technology from the world’s airframe, engine, and avionics manufacturers. From fly-by-wire flight controls to touchscreen flight decks and sophisticated satcoms, these are the aircraft that make the aerospace industry fly.

Cessna Citation X+
Nov 1, 2014 - 5:25 AM
Citation X+ Pilot Report
Cessna’s re-do of the Citation X thoroughly updates the classic speedster with new avionics and cabin features and an even swifter top speed.

When it came time for a refresh of the Citation X, Cessna could have taken the existing airframe and updated the avionics, added winglets and redesigned the interior–as it did with other recent “plus” models such as the Sovereign+ and CJ3+–but engineers were able to unlock more performance when they created the X+.

Oct 1, 2014 - 3:30 AM
Pilot Report: Eclipse 550
With the $2.895 million 550 now in production, Eclipse Aerospace offers the lowest-priced new very light jet available.

I pulled the Eclipse 550’s throttles back and allowed the jet to slow down. The autopilot and autothrottles were turned off, but as we neared the stall, an audio alert sounded (“STALL”), the autothrottles kicked in and automatically advanced power to maximum continuous thrust and the airspeed climbed back to a safe level as I simultaneously unloaded the wings. After leveling off, I reset the throttles and resumed normal cruise speed.

Jul 1, 2014 - 5:30 AM
Pilot Report: Daher-Socata TBM 900
Owner-pilots are the biggest market for the speedy Daher-Socata TBM 900 single-engine turboprop.

From the standpoint of aerodynamics, there aren’t many ways to make a modern airplane a lot better in a single bound, but as computers gain power smart designers can eke out subtle gains and combine them to extract more performance, which is what the engineering team at Daher-Socata has done with the already successful TBM single-engine turboprop line.

CJ2+ Alpine upgrade
Apr 1, 2014 - 4:30 AM
Pilot Report: Cessna Citation CJ2+ Alpine Edition
The Alpine upgrade is a way for CJ2+ owners to get the technology and features of a new Citation M2

If it isn’t blindingly obvious already that Cessna has made a huge shift to Garmin avionics in its lineup of business jets, then the addition of the G3000 flight deck to the Citation CJ2+ is yet another indicator of where the company is headed. The G3000 upgrade for the CJ2+ is part of a new package, called the Alpine edition, that is not an option for new jets coming off the assembly line in Wichita but is available only as a retrofit. Cessna has also switched the CJ3 to the G3000 system in the new CJ3+, but this is for new jets, not retrofits.

GippsAero GA8 Airvan
Mar 1, 2014 - 4:10 AM
Pilot Report: GippsAero Airvan Delivers Utility in a Fun To Fly Package
The GA8 Airvan is a blend of Australian outback strength and a gigantic load-hauling fuselage topped with a forgiving wing fat with lift

GippsAero’s beefy boxcar of an airplane may look ungainly, but once you climb in and fire up its 320-hp turbocharged Lycoming TIO-540, pull the flaps lever all the way up and push the throttle to 40 inches of manifold pressure, the big single leaps forward and soars into the sky where it belongs.

Learjet 75 flying
Nov 1, 2013 - 2:30 AM
Pilot Report: Learjet 75
A new Learjet joins the family

It still seems unusual to climb into the cockpit of a sophisticated modern jet like Bombardier’s rejuvenated Learjet 75 and find a Garmin suite instead of a panel full of Honeywell or Rockwell Collins avionics. It isn’t hard to figure out; there are no flight management system control display units in the Learjet 75’s pedestal. Indeed, it seems that the concept of the standalone FMS has been banished from the jet’s Bombardier Vision (Garmin G5000) flight deck.

Cessna Citation Sovereign (Photo: Matt Thurber)
Oct 1, 2013 - 2:30 AM
Pilot Report: Cessna’s New Citation Sovereign
This still experimental “new” Sovereign is the updated version of Cessna’s big midsize jet.

When I pushed the thrust levers forward for takeoff in the newest version of Cessna’s Citation Sovereign, not only did the big jet surge forward but something else interesting happened: at about 75 percent N1 the power levers moved forward on their own and set takeoff power precisely, rather than require Shannon Peterson, senior pilot flight operations, to make the fine adjustments for takeoff power. Shortly thereafter we reached rotation speed, I pitched into the V-bars on the flight director and the powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306Ds launched the Sovereign skyward.

The core mission of the Beechcraft King Air 350ER is long range and lengthy loitering times, up to 2,650 nm or 12 hours.
Jan 1, 2013 - 4:30 AM
Pilot report: King Air 350ER
The Long-legged King Air is a Flexible and Capable Turboprop

The King Air 350i is now Beechcraft’s biggest airplane, but the 350ER version takes the turboprop twin a few steps further, adding enough extra fuel to stay aloft for up to 12 hours in loiter mode or power along at more than 260 knots for nearly 2,300 nm, all while carrying one pilot and six passengers and with NBAA IFR reserves. Maximum range is as far as 2,650 nm.

T-6C
Jun 12, 2012 - 4:28 PM
Pilot Report: Hawker Beechcraft T-6C Military Trainer
Hawker Beechcraft T-6C military trainer.

What makes the T-6 series a better trainer than the old airplanes is that it is designed to help new pilots make a faster transition into jets. The PT6 engine has a power management unit (PMU) that makes it respond more like a jet engine than a turboprop; hopefully the only difference is that T-6 pilots still need to step on the right rudder during takeoff, although rudder trim is available and easily accessible on the Hotas. Naturally the HUD helps with the transition to jets, too, as does the modern avionics suite.

Hawker 4000
Dec 1, 2011 - 12:05 AM
AIN 2011 Pilot Report: Hawker 4000
After 15 years in development, this super-midsize delivers on its promises.

First announced at the 1996 NBAA Convention, the super-midsize Hawker Horizon, the company’s 60-percent composite construction business jet, made its first flight on Aug 11, 2001. It received its FAA type certificate just over five years later, on Nov. 21, 2006, with a new name too, the Hawker 4000. Raytheon, 3which owned what was to become Hawker Beech at the 4000’s conception, sold its ownership stake to a new partnership–Goldman Sachs and Onex–that renamed the company Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC).