Interesting Airplanes

A British company, with funding from the U.K. government, says an electric-powered airliner could be in revenue service as early as 2023. Cranfield Aerospace Solutions says it will convert a Britten-Norman Islander to hybrid electric power for short hop service between Scotland and the Orkney Islands. Scottish carrier Loganair will be the launch customer. Pure […]

Pilot and author Robert DeLaurentis departed from California’s Gillespie Field (SEE) last Saturday on a six-month venture to fly from the South Pole to the North Pole in a modified 1983 Turbo Commander 900 (690D). The route is expected to cover approximately 26,000 NM with stops in more than 20 countries before returning to San […]

Air Race E unveiled an electrified Cassutt Formula One race plane capable of 300 MPH at the Dubai Air Show on Sunday. The tiny aircraft, which is familiar to those who attend the National Championship Air Races in Reno, was modified with a 150-kilowatt motor and about 200 pounds of lithium batteries replacing the Continental […]

Airbus announced that its BelugaXL transport aircraft received its type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Wednesday. According to Airbus, the model completed more than 200 flight tests for a total of over 700 flight hours during its flight test campaign. The BelugaXL is expected to enter service in early 2020. Based […]

NASA formally unveiled its electric airplane test bed last week and the Maxwell (more formally the X-57) will be the agency’s first manned aircraft project in 20 years. The aircraft, which is based on a Tecnam 2006 light twin, is still at least a year from its first flight but the two largest of its […]

A Canadian seaplane airline expects to flight test an electrically powered De Havilland Beaver before the end of the year with an eye to flying passengers in 2022. As we reported earlier this year, Harbour Air, which flies about 40 floatplanes to islands and coastal communities on the west coast of British Columbia, announced it […]

Legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan has reportedly turned his outside-the-box vision toward eVTOL transportation and he’s already said to prepare for something different. “It’s pretty different from the 170 different outfits that are doing eVTOL now,” he is quoted as saying by Aviation Week. “And that’s all I can say about it.”  Rutan “retired” in […]

At NBAA-BACE 2019 in Las Vegas, Embraer marked the recent certification of its refreshed line of midsize business jets with the announcement of a firm order from FlexJet worth $1.4 billion. The fractional operator will take a mix of 64 aircraft, including an unspecified number of new Praetor 500 and 600 jets. The balance of […]

Timing, as they say, is everything and the tragic crash of the Collings Foundation B-17 in Connecticut earlier this month came a month after it submitted its application for exemptions to various FAA rules that allow it to fly its collection of aircraft and carry paying passengers to help cover expenses. The group is now […]

Kitty Hawk’s latest entry into the incipient urban mobility market is missing something important and it might be its biggest selling point. The new Heaviside (named for Oliver Heaviside, a controversial early 20th century physicist and electrical engineer) is virtually silent in flight with a noise level of about 38 decibels at 1,500 feet. Helicopters […]