David Yeoman

When 9,490 aircrafts of a specific model sell in a 14-year production window, you know the designers have got it right. In 1950, the Tri-Pacer leveraged off the success of its much-loved sibling, the Piper Pa 20 Pacer, and went on to become a legend. Until that time, most aircraft produced had a conventional undercarriage […]

All military aircraft from the famous Soviet Union design bureau Mikoyan-Gurevich earn the model designator of MiG. Founded by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich in 1939, their design creations bear their last initials joined with the letter ‘i’, the Russian letter for ‘and.’ In 1950, the Mikoyan-Gurevich team was tasked to design a replacement for

Introduction A rugged, single-engined, high wing, tricycle undercarriage six-seater, Cessna describes its 206 as the sports utility vehicle of the air. As one who has flown a 206, I can attest to its truck-like handling and its ability to haul large loads into and out of back-country strips. The middle child in a family of

Introduction A sight that quickens the heart of any true pilot is a rag-and-tube taildragger taxiing out onto a mown field on a sunny day—a real trip down nostalgia lane for us grey hairs. The Piper Pacer is one such aircraft to stir the senses. Manufactured by Piper between 1949 and 1964, the Pacer family

Introduced in 1962 as a more powerful version of its older ‘Apache’ sibling, the first Piper PA 23 Aztec featured 250 horsepower, normally aspirated Lycoming engines, a swept tail, and seating for five. Manufactured until 1982, the model moved through series A through F. The Aztec B series rapidly followed in late 1962, with six-place

Introduction The Cessna 340 series aircraft aimed to straddle a gap between the entry-level unpressurized twins, such as the Cessna 310, Twin Comanche, Beech Baron, Piper Aztec, and the larger, more expensive Cessna 414, Piper Aerostar, and the Beechcraft Duke. One of the first light twins to offer a pressurized cabin and a proper cabin-class