What's Flight without flying? Our test pilots had a busy year in 2014.
Beechcraft 350ER King Air is a multi-mission masterpiece
The Beechcraft King Air was introduced in 1964, and has proved to be one of the world’s most popular turboprop twins, with 7,000 delivered through several updates. One flyer who knows the type well is Flightglobal test pilot Mike Gerzanics, who rates its flexibility second to none: “The King Air is the SwissArmy knife of turboprops, and the 350ER may well be the sharpest blade on the market today.”
King Air, business end
Daher Socata's TBM 900 single-engine turboprop
Daher Socata’s TBM 900 turboprop single may build on the very successful previous TBM 700 (324 delivered) and TBM 850 (338 delivered) models and their accumulated fleet total of 1.2 million flight hours. But, says Pete Collins, with a certification program lasting three years and involving over 160,000 man-hours of research and development effort plus over 200h of flight testing, together with a significant number of major airframe, systems and avionics improvements, the six-seat TBM 900 is a new aircraft in its own right.
TBM 900 is new – and shiny
BillyPix
Beyond basics – Grob's new-look G120TP cockpit
Pete Collins was greatly impressed by the Grob G120TP’s blend of high performance, low acquisition or lease price, minimal operating costs and considerable training potential when he flew a prototype in 2010. In 2014, he went back to the Mattsies-Tussenhausen production facility in Bavaria to evaluate the full digital cockpit of the latest version of its G120TP military trainer.
Take your pick
Grob Aircraft
Citation X+ marks Cessna's bid for the high-speed crown
When Flight International flew the Citation X in 2002, Cessna’s flagship had held the record for the fastest civil aircraft since its certification in 1996, with a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.92. But in 2012 Gulfstream’s ultra-long-range, large-cabin G650 nosed ahead with a top speed of M0.925 – until Cessna edged its way back to the speed crown, at M0.935, with the Citation X+. Mike Gerzanics went to Wichita to find out what the X+ is made of.
I feel the need...
Craig Hacker Photography
The high-winged, four-seat Tecnam P2010 was designed to fill a defined gap in the airframer’s product line-up – and stand out as the first, all-new, direct competitor to the Cessna Skyhawk and Skylane piston singles that first flew nearly 60 years ago and remain successful and in production today. Pete Collins took the controls at Tecnam’s production facility in Capua, near Naples.
High wing, high hopes
BillyPix
Falcon 7X gets in and out of tight corners
Dassault’s Falcon 7X trijet has many salient features, but like all Falcons one of its claimed trump cards is short field take-off and landing performance. To find out first-hand what the 7X can do when the runway is short and the mountains looming, Pete Collins made two approaches and a landing at St Tropez (La Môle – LFTZ) and watched Dassault pilots do the same at Gstaad (Saanen – LSGK).
Mind your speed
Dassault Falcon
Innovative, powerful, modern, efficient, versatile – what’s not to like about AgustaWestland’s new offshore and SAR star? Peter Gray took the aircraft through its paces and also found it to be very pilot-friendly.
Looks powerful, feels powerful
AgustaWestland
Source: FlightGlobal.com
