The immaculately restored Piper PA–18 Super Cub was a gorgeous, gleaming paperweight. It had just about every conceivable modification including a bigger engine, constant-speed propeller, digital avionics, and long-range fuel tanks for better comfort and performance.

Iconic airplanes of the past naturally influence our ideas about their successors—or peer aircraft that take on the same mission.

Although it’s gone by many different names, the Piper PA–46 has only had one continuous purpose: It’s a long-range, high-altitude, single with efficient high-aspect-ratio wings that can carry up to six people more than 1,000 nautical miles.

Pilots performing preflight inspections too often overlook the potentially crucial things their avionics may be trying to tell them. Most GPS navigators, for example, come to life with a color-coded database page that shows whether flight, navigation, terrain, and obstacle information they contain is current.

The father/son team of Richard and Kirk Fox is known for their skillful aircraft maintenance—but their comedic banter is entertaining, too.

The single red Safe Return button is inconspicuously placed on the ceiling of the SR22 G7+ cabin—yet it’s transformative.

It’s the shortest, highest paved runway in Europe, and with an 18.66-percent gradient slope, it’s by far the steepest.

Brian Hubbard served in the Peace Corps in Africa, then joined the Conservation Corps of Minnesota when he returned to his home state.

Crosswinds didn’t exist in aviation’s early days.