Table of contents for March 2025 in Flying

WHAT TYPE of aircraft best suits your needs? Are you flying long distances or sticking to shorter trips? Do you need more space for passengers and cargo, or is speed your top priority? And how do factors like insurance, financing, and safety play into your decision? The FLYING Buyers Guide is here to help you answer these questions and more. In this special issue, we’ve pulled together 2025 base pricing and key performance data for the latest aircraft on the market. And don’t worry—all our regular columnists and content will return in the April issue. For now, let’s dive into the details and have some fun planning (or daydreaming) about your next aircraft purchase. Illustrative charts give you a quick snapshot of each model’s specs, and for a deeper dive,…

BUYING A new aircraft is like bringing a new baby home. There is a lot of anticipation and planning that goes into the process. The process isn’t quick. You’re excited and a little anxious every time you think about what you’ve accomplished. It is a life-changing event—plus you now have the opportunity to add all sorts of equipment and accessories to enhance the experience. Let’s start with the basics: the care and feeding of your airplane. Oil Make sure you know what it needs in terms of feeding, which in this case is fuel, possibly hydraulic fluid, and oil. Like giving new parents a case of diapers, you can’t go wrong with a case of (appropriate) oil for the aircraft. To the aircraft owners: Always carry enough oil in the…

Piper entered 2024 with growing sales of its single-engine turboprops, the M500 and M600 SLS. In the second quarter, it made its first delivery of the M700 Fury, which we covered in FLYING Issue 949/July-August 2024. With a max cruise speed of 301 knots and a top-of-the-line Garmin avionics suite that includes Autoland, we rated the airplane highly. Buyers seemed to agree. Piper delivered 24 of them in the second and third quarters of the year—a healthy portion of the 36 total turboprops it sent off to new owners during that time frame, in comparison with 34 during the same time in 2023. As with other manufacturers, Daher fought supply chain issues for its established aircraft line while also bringing the new Kodiak 900 into production during the second half…

A COUPLE of decades ago, I was at a friend’s barbecue when I met another guest who was a private pilot and former aircraft owner. At the time I was seriously considering training for a pilot certificate, which I mentioned with the hope of receiving advice, insight, or perhaps a bit of both. The man, whose name I no longer recall, said flying is a wonderful experience, but I would be utterly shocked by the cost of owning an airplane. His advice: I should brace myself and be ready to pay up. I was somewhat suspicious of his guidance after further discussion revealed he had sold his Cessna 172 years earlier and bought a large sailboat—the classic money pit. The boat had to be more expensive than the airplane, right?…

FOR THOSE of you who have been subscribing to FLYING for a long period of time, you have witnessed firsthand significant change with the magazine in recent years. Change is inevitable in everything we do, but our commitment to producing the best possible resource to support your growth as a pilot, and if you so choose, an aircraft owner, is our raison d’etre. This month, we take some liberty with producing an issue dedicated entirely to owning and buying a new airplane—the 2025 FLYING Buyers Guide. We know that for every new aircraft buyer, there are a dozen or more who would prefer the advantages to buying used. That said, we view this as a unique and timeless resource for all pilots and aircraft owners, regardless of preference, who want…

In preparing our general aviation market survey, we reviewed sales data through the first three quarters of 2024—data for the fourth quarter was not yet released in time for press—and compared it with the same period in 2023. The numbers show that for jets, turboprops, and pistons sales have been solid in all areas, with a total of 1,221 airplanes delivered in the first three quarters of 2024, over 1,131 in that time in 2023. The solid sales record is consistent with the historically strong economy of the last several years and a stock market at all-time highs, even though there was an inflation surge that was expected during a long period of nearly full employment and rising wages. Demand for all aircraft remains high with backlogs increasing into the…

Buyers have favorably responded to new and upgraded offerings in the business jet market by placing orders at a rate that far exceeds deliveries. Manufacturers responded by ramping up production to the extent possible, given frustratingly persistent supply chain issues. Cirrus reports that owners of its SR piston line are those most likely to step up to its single-engine SF50 Vision Jet—where sales have remained high and steady. While its performance is modest compared to other jets, so is its price. It was designed to be as similar as possible to the SR series and includes what has been proven to be a lifesaving system, the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) as well as top-of-the-line Garmin avionics with Autoland. Sixty-one SF50s were sold in the first three quarters of 2023,…

THE UNCOMFORTABLE silence on the other end of the line was enough to tell me that I had just squashed all the joy and excitement from this soon-to-be turbine pilot by sharing the $60,000 quote we obtained for his new turboprop purchase. “But the sales rep told me the premium would only be $30,000-$35,000,” he finally retorted. Famous last words… That premium may have been accurate for a well-qualified professional pilot flying this aircraft in a corporate environment but not in these circumstances. This client, while a respectable private pilot with nearly 1,000 hours and instrument rated, lacked retractable gear time and was transitioning from a single-engine piston. Compounding the issue, he was only two weeks away from closing when he sought an insurance quote, leading to a premium double…

ONE OF the major ways that pilots learn about safety is by reading about accidents. And years ago, I noticed a number of aircraft accidents involving newly purchased aircraft. So, I did a search of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database using phrases such as “recently purchased,” and sure enough, I found a boatload of accident reports. So many in fact that I created a presentation that I gave several times called, “How to Buy an Airplane and Not Crash on the Way Home.” Sometimes the crash isn’t on the trip home but occurs within a few weeks of purchase. Here’s what I found when I researched the NTSB database for accidents of this type: • 27 percent involved experimental aircraft.• 25 percent were stalls that occurred either during…

DAVE COOK owns a Lancair and made a career out of flying. Dean Owen had never flown before. But both are making aviation history as the first private electric aircraft owners in the U.S. “The only thing I ever did with an aircraft was jump out of a few for the military,” Owen said. “I’ve got a buddy that used to fly me around for business trips, and on a rare occasion, he would let me take the stick of his Cessna while we’re in the air. But that was it.” Cook and Owen are among five lucky civilians participating in manufacturer Pivotal’s early access program (EAP) to get their hands on the BlackFly—an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype. Lifting off like a helicopter but soaring on fixed…

A long with market developments for piston-engine airplanes, we are also closely watching the slowly increasing availability of unleaded avgas. The benefits should affect aircraft owners in terms of lowered maintenance costs as the harmful effects of lead on engines go away. Sales of the Cirrus Aircraft SR series increased to 419 through the third quarter of 2024 over 389 in the same period of 2023. Cirrus is riding a wave of success. It introduced the latest version of the SR series (G7) early in 2024, and it proved popular. The upgrade included touchscreen interfaces, larger, high-resolution displays, advanced safety systems, improved visibility, more legroom, and the Cirrus IQ mobile app that provides remote access to real-time health and readiness information about the aircraft. Sales of Diamond Aircraft for the…

IF you’re serious about buying an airplane—even thinking about buying an airplane—one of the best things you can do is to join the appropriate type club. A type club is a collection of owners and supporters of a specific type of airplane organized to share make- and model-specific technical information and hints for owning and flying the aircraft. The club may be formally organized and professionally staffed, or it may be an online presence run by a single person or collection of volunteers. Regardless, a type club is your best resource for answers to the many questions you’ll have as you evaluate candidate aircraft and after you purchase your aerial dream machine. It may save you a substantial amount of money—and it will make you demonstrably and statistically safer. Here’s why.…

PURCHASING AN aircraft is a significant investment, whether you’re a private individual buying a small personal airplane or a company acquiring a corporate jet. Due to the substantial financial stakes, people involved, and FAA requirements, it is critical to ensure that the process is smooth and secure. Using an aircraft escrow and title company can be a significant tool in the purchase of an aircraft. This guide will walk through what you need to know about using escrow, why it’s important, how it works, and considerations to keep in mind. What Is Escrow as It Pertains to Aircraft? In its simplest form, escrow acts as a neutral third party to hold funds and documents until all parties are ready to close. Once all agreed-upon conditions are satisfied, the escrow agent…