Interesting Airplanes

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 […]

A Maine startup has hit 100 orders for a clean-sheet amphibious forward-looking design that borrows a name and heritage from aviation’s Golden Age. Mallard Enterprises has sold 30 of its ME-1A twin turboprops to South African startup regional airline JOLY. The capacious flying boat will carry 19 passengers 350 nautical miles at 250 knots in […]

The FAA has certified GE’s new Catalyst turboprop engine, giving Textron a lot more certainty in the introduction of the Beechcraft Denali, the utility single that was basically built around the new engine. GE announced the certification late last week and said it’s now gearing up production to let Textron start delivering Denalis as the […]

It would appear the venerable An-2 Colt biplane, which has served Russian and various other east European militaries since 1947, will outlive its planned replacement. Various sources are reporting Russia will cancel the modest development of a nine-seat utility airplane, the LMS-901 Baikal, in favor of replacing the radial engine on the AN-2 with a […]

President Donald Trump is apparently rejecting Boeing’s plan to delay delivery of two new aircraft to serve as presidential transports to 2029. Fox News said its sources revealed the new date and the administration isn’t happy about it. “It is ridiculous that the delivery of a new Air Force One airplane has been delayed for […]

The Constellation News has reported the new owner of one of the last flyable Lockheed Super Constellations, John Travolta, has tested the engines on the former airliner and freighter. That’s fueling speculation on what the Oscar-winning actor and longtime pilot might have in store for the historic aircraft, which is the only civilian version of […]

Electric aircraft developer Eviation has laid off most of its staff and “paused” work on its Alice prototype. The company has confirmed an initial report by the Air Current that it had all but ceased operations at Arlington Airport in Washington state. In a statement the company said it was “identifying the right long-term partnerships […]

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 test aircraft made a splash with its first supersonic flight two weeks ago, but it didn’t make a boom and that, after all, was the point. The startup’s XB-1 prototype exceeded Mach 1 three times on the Jan.28 flight but those in the flight path wouldn’t have been able to tell. “Specialized […]

Thanks to some forecast weather, the Philippine Mars headed straight to Arizona today from San Francisco rather than flying to San Diego for some public appearances and media flights. The aircraft landed on Lake Pleasant, near Phoenix, about 3 p.m. It will be hauled up on shore and partly disassembled before being trucked to the […]