Interesting Airplanes

Boeing attracted almost half a billion dollars in government research money this week with two projects that challenge contemporary aircraft design. NASA announced it will cover $425 million of the $725 million cost of building a full-scale prototype single-aisle airliner with strut-supported glider-like wings. Boeing and its partners will pay the balance. The projection is […]

Textron has sold a couple of its SkyCourier twins in passenger configuration to Mexican startup Aerus. The new airline also ordered four 14-passenger Caravan EXes to serve domestic and international routes with a hub in Monterrey in northeastern Mexico. The airline has already taken delivery of three Caravan EXes. Aerus plans to start scheduled service […]

M-T Propellers says its 11-bladed design delivers increased thrust with “an impressive noise and sound signature.” The German propmaker says it put the turbine-like device on a Piper Cheyenne fitted with P&W PT6A-135A engines and flew it a couple of months ago. “The very promising results in static thrust, 15% increase over the standard certified 5-bladed […]

Turkey’s Baykar company flew a new uncrewed fighter drone on Wednesday for the first time and says it could change air power. The Kizilelma drone is as big as an F-16 (more than 48 feet long) but is 6,000 pounds lighter. It’s capable of carrying out air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. It’s also capable of carrier […]

After 53 years in production the 1,547th and last Boeing 747 left the assembly building in Everett, Washington, Tuesday evening. The last of its type is a cargo version that will be delivered to Atlas Air in 2023. The aircraft will undergo its shakedown flights in the next few weeks before heading to Portland for […]

Ampaire flew its hybrid electric Caravan for the first time Nov. 18, completing a 33-minute hop from Camarillo, California. According to Green Car Congress, the short flight was conducted to do initial checks on the propulsion system, which consists of a compression ignition engine coupled to a generator that charges a battery bank in a […]

The Antonov AN-2 that a Cuban defector used to fly to Florida in late October crashed near Opa Locka, Florida, on Monday, but it’s not clear who was at the controls. The two people on board were not injured when the big Soviet-era biplane landed in Everglades National Park about 15 miles west of Opa Locka […]

Ukraine aircraft manufacturer Antonov says it will likely cost about $500 million to return the An-225 to the skies. The only flying version of the cargo plane was destroyed during fighting in the early days of the Russian invasion. The plane was in an open-ended hangar at Hostomel Airport near Kyiv last February when Russian […]

The matriarch of the Air Force’s strategic nuclear fleet is getting some work done, and the result is smoother skin and curvier limbs. Air and Space Forces Magazine released an image of a 3-D rendering of what the next iteration of the 70-plus-year-old B-52 will likely look like and it’s definitely a softer image. “The […]

More than 30 Cessna 195s from all over North America attended the 51st Annual International Cessna 195 Convention held in Joliet, Illinois, from Sept. 7-11. This year’s convention marked the 75th anniversary of the vintage aircraft that owners say still holds its own against modern big singles in performance and comfort but with a heavy […]