Interesting Airplanes

Airbus is working on a full-sized airliner powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Airbus says it is considering using an open rotor engine on its replacement for the A320. The company has been working with CFM to develop the engine, which has primary and secondary counter-rotating turbine vanes on the outside of the engines rather than being encased in a nacelle. Exposing the turbines makes the bypass ratio […]

Diamond Aircraft and Volocopter have released details on their recent integration, and the plan is to keep developing the multicopter but under the well-established manufacturing structure at Diamond and at the same time enhancing Diamond’s product line. Volocopter was bought out of insolvency by Diamond parent Wanfeng earlier this month. Volocopter will be operated by […]

The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is hoping to fly its scratch-built replica Me 262 to AirVenture in July. The museum released a short video on social media late last week showing a snippet of the first taxi test of the aircraft. “We reached a major milestone on the road to EAA AirVenture!” the museum […]

A well-known South African test pilot was killed in the crash of a vintage jet fighter at an airshow there on Saturday. “It is with profound sadness that the organizers of the West Coast Airshow confirm a fatal accident involving James O’Connell, a highly skilled and respected test pilot from South Africa,” the statement said. […]

Boeing will build what is widely believed to be the Air Force’s last crewed fighter air craft. President Donald Trump told reporters in an Oval Office briefing that the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) is designated the F-47. The aircraft is a sixth-generation design incorporating stealth aerodynamics with advanced threat detection and precision weapons systems. […]

The Chinese owner of Diamond Aircraft has acquired the assets of eVTOL pioneer Volocopter out of insolvency for $11 million. The estimated value of the hard assets and intellectual property was set at $42 million in the insolvency process. Wanfeng, a major Chinese car manufacturer, has set up its German subsidiary Heptus 591 to operate […]

Red-faced Swiss officials are considering how best to deploy their recently acquired Bombardier Global 7500 after discovering it literally won’t fit the facilities at the airport in the capital city of Bern. According to luxurylaunches.com, the Swiss air force took delivery of the new executive transport in December to great fanfare, citing its efficiency and […]

A familiar sight and sound will return to British airshows this year after the 10-month grounding of the RAF’s Merlin-powered Hurricanes and Spitfires. The iconic Second World War fighters were grounded almost a year ago after the May 25, 2024, crash of a Spitfire flown by Sqn Leader Mark Long, one of the many RAF […]

Sikorsky has flown a prototype of an interesting flying wing drone that incorporates twin rotors for vertical takeoffs and landings. The concept was unveiled at Verticon in Dallas on Monday. The “rotor blown wing” is a tilt-rotor of sorts, but because the whole aircraft is the wing it doesn’t need complicated technology to make the […]