General Aviation Aircraft

Explore Plane & Pilot Magazine’s Aircraft section for trusted reviews, detailed pilot reports, and expert comparisons. From legendary trainers to cutting-edge designs, we help pilots evaluate performance, specs, and ownership experiences to make confident decisions in the air and on the ground.

The Age of YouTube & Video Pilot Reports

When this website went live a few months before the Sport Pilot & Light-Sport Aircraft rule was announced at Oshkosh 2004, it began life as an archive of several hundred pilot reports I had written for a number of print magazines in aviation. That launch seems a long time ago … it has been eleven […]

Read More »

Rans S-7LS Courier

Rans S-7LS Courier SPECIFICATIONS Crew: One Capacity: One passenger Length: 23 ft. 3 in. (7.09 m) Wingspan: 29 ft .3 in. (8.92 m) Height: 6 ft. 4 in. (1.93 m) Wing Area: 147.1 sq. ft. (13.67 m2) Empty Weight (lbs.): 700 (318 kg) Gross Weight (lbs.): 1,232 (559 kg) Fuel Capacity: 18 US Gallons (68 […]

Read More »

DemoVenture 2015 — Flying at Oshkosh

Shows like Sebring and Midwest LSA Expo are known for being great places to demo fly a Light-Sport or light kit you may be considering to buy. They earned that reputation because it is typically much easier to fly at those lower-key, less crowded events than at giant shows like AirVenture. However, some companies make […]

Read More »

ICON A5

ICON A5 SPECIFICATIONS Standard Base Price: $197,000 Price As Flown (ICON 100 Founders Edition): $247,000 Engine: Rotax 912 (100 hp) (optional 912 iS) Seats: 2 Gear: Retractable gear Gross Weight (lbs.): 1510 Useful Load (lbs.): 430-550 Fuel Capacity: 20 gal usable Fuel: 91 octane auto gas or 100LL PERFORMANCE Fuel Burn: 3.8 gph @ cruise […]

Read More »

The World of LSA and American Opportunities

Updated 8/21/15 — This article has been updated with a reader comment seen at the bottom. When the SP/LSA regulation was announced 11 years ago nearly all registered Light-Sport Aircraft originated in Europe. Indeed, the first two accepted as SLSA were the Evektor SportStar and Flight Design’s CT series. For several early years, Europe accounted […]

Read More »

Searey Now Completely Ready to Enter China

Icon recently won FAA acceptance as the California company demonstrated meeting ASTM standards for their A5 seaplane and made a big show out of delivering the first airplane to EAA Young Eagles … the same move, by the way, as Cessna did with their Skycatcher. We expect Icon’s future to work out better as they […]

Read More »
Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get the latest Plane & Pilot Magazine stories delivered directly to your inbox

SUBSCRIBE