New To Oshkosh

Certified! The PA-46-500TP M600, the most advanced and capable aircraft in Piper’s M-class line up, seats six and is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A turbo prop engine flat rated at 600 SHP. Its new wing enables a maximum speed of 274 kt / 507 km/h and a max range of 1,441 nm / 2,669 km. Garmin G3000 glass cockpit avionics are the first touch-screen primary displays in a single engine turboprop. Price: $2.85 million. Coming soon: a Pilot Report by Aviation Week’s chief evaluation pilot, Fred George.

Evolution Aircraft has completed performance and noise testing of Hartzell’s five-blade composite swept tip constant speed propeller for the four-place pressurized Turbine Evolution, Hartzell said. The 82.5-in. dia. five-blade propeller is available as an optional performance upgrade on the Turbine Evolution. It replaces the four-blade Hartzell aluminum propeller that comes as standard equipment. In addition to new aircraft kits, the new propeller is available as retrofits. 

FAA certification for Cirrus Aircraft’s new Vision Jet SF50 is imminent, the company said July 24 at a Cirrus customer event at AirVenture at Oshkosh. Cirrus brought two of the single-engine very light jets to the show, including the first production aircraft to be delivered, to Joe Whisenhunt, an Arkansas commercial and industrial real estate developer.Price: $1.96 million.

Cirrus has received FAA approval for a special mission platform tailored for the Cirrus SR22 and SR22T aircraft models called the Cirrus Perception. It can perform missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, traffic and law enforcement operations, aerial surveying, mapping and photography, search and rescue missions, disaster management and support, border surveillance and other purposes. Operators can tailor the SR22 and SR22T to host an array of lightweight, compact sensor and user-station options, including multi-spectral imaging systems with ultra long-range and electro-optical infrared capabilities. 

Blackhawk is showing its latest King Air performance modification, this time the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A-67A-powered XP67A engine upgrade for the King Air 350. It promises shorter hot/high takeoffs, reduced weight, faster cruise and increased rate of climb.

On its way to the Middle East: Emirates FlightTraining Academy, the flight training program operated by Emirates airline, last November selected the

Cirrus SR22 for its primary training aircraft. A fleet of 22 SR22 aircraft will train pilots at Al Maktoum International-Dubai World Central Airport in support of the Emirates’ National Cadet Pilot Programme. This SR22 stopped off at Oshkosh before delivery to the airline.

Having launched its international marketing offensive in Germany and Dubai in 2014, and China the following year, Ukraine-based Softex Aero is now at Oshkosh to continue this process with the unusual-looking V-24 Lastochka (Martlet) four-seat utility twin and the five-seat V-52 helicopter.

Designed by Viktor Vashchenko and built of composites materials at Brovary, just east of the capital, Kiev, the four-seat V-24 first took to the air in November 2012, powered by a pair of 100 hp Rotax piston engines. Now as the V24L with its engines replaced by 160-hp Lycoming IO320s driving variable-pitch pusher propellers, the V24L promises versatility and ease of passenger access through upward-opening doors with low sills. A Normal Category type certificate was awarded to the basic V-24 in October 2014.

A mockup of Softex Aero’s V-52 single-engine, five seat helicopter, powered by an undisclosed engine of 370 hp for cruise conditions, is also on show at Oshkosh, where the company prodly displays the Ukrainian flag.

Seen for the first time at EAA Airventure are these Coolspace evaporative coolers. They help keep the crowds cool throughout the grounds as temperatures and humidity combine to push the heat index into the low 100s. The coolers can reduce surrounding temperatures by 8 to 33 degrees, depending on the existing dry bulb temperature and relative humidity.