Aviation News

Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Science’s autonomous Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype crashed during its fifth test flight, company spokespeople told several news outlets at the Uber Elevate Summit this week. No one was injured in the accident—the PAV was flying unmanned—and no damage beyond that sustained by the aircraft […]

A cooperative industry effort to make pilots and FBOs aware of the risks of Jet-A has resulted in a comprehensive set of recommendations published today. The working group is made up of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, National Air Transportation Association and National Business Aviation Association, as well as fuel […]

Slovenia-based Pipistrel Vertical Solutions threw its hat into the eVTOL ring Tuesday by revealing a multi-fan electric airplane with vertical takeoff and landing capability. At Uber’s Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C., Pipistrel unveiled the so-called 801 as a five-occupant winged aircraft capable of a 60-mile range at 175 MPH or more. The 801 has four […]

A devastating fire broke out at the manufacturing facility for Belite Aircraft late last week. The company produces the Chipper experimental and the UltraCub ultralight, as well as the Radiant instrument line.  According to company founder James Wiebe, “It appears that the fire started at our CNC router dust collection system. Intense smoke filled the building, […]

Flight groundings on June 8 and 9 were caused by a software glitch in some Collins GPS receivers found in bizjets and a few airliners. At issue was the receivers’ failure to compensate for the “leap second” applied to the almanac data every two and a half years. This almanac update to the GPS was […]

In an alternately inspirational and cautionary talk at Uber’s Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, acting FAA chief Dan Elwell told the aspiring urban air taxi audience that he’s impressed with ideas and progress the industry has made. But, “When I put my FAA regulator hat on, I’ve got a whole new bucket of stuff […]

Uber is betting big that data it’s collecting from its ground-based ride-hailing app will drive the emerging urban air taxi market, but while we’re waiting for the aircraft, beginning this summer, UberCopter will launch in limited round-trip service between downtown Manhattan and JFK Airport. The service will be provided by Part 135-operator HeliFlite using conventional […]

Embraer, though its EmbraerX “disruptive business subsidiary,” announced the eVTOL at today’s Uber Elevate Summit. The 10-motor electric VTOL concept promises urban mobility through vertical takeoff and landing capabilities and is ready for future autonomous flight. “As a market accelerator committed to developing solutions to transform life’s experiences, we have been combining human-centered design thinking […]

In what would become the second-largest company in the defense and aerospace sector, Raytheon and United Technologies are set to merge and become Raytheon Technologies, where it will compete against Boeing (the largest firm in the field) and Lockheed Martin in commercial aviation and defense. Reports are that the company would be valued in excess […]

The pilot was the only one aboard the Agusta A109E that crashed into the rooftop of 787 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan today. Officials originally called it a “hard landing” that started a small fire that was quickly extinguished. The pilot, identified as Tim McCormack, died in the accident. By Tuesday evening, the Associated Press was […]