Aviation News

At the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International show in Atlanta, a company called Panoptes was demonstrating its cool new ultrasonic-based obstacle avoidance add-on for DJI Phantom drones. It’s retrofittable, too. Donnie Rogers gave us a tour of the product. view on YouTube

The FAA wants to make it easier for drone operators to know if they’re flying legally so on Wednesday, it announced a new geographically sensitive smartphone app that will instantly inform drone pilots if they’re legal to fly in the airspace they’re in. The new app is called B4UFly and will be available later this […]

I can’t speak for every other reporter in the room, but the FAA’s announcement at AUVSI Wednesday that it was partnering up—and my how they love that word—with a major news network, a railroad and a drone company to advance the cause of sUAS operation in the national airspace was just a little hard to […]

Diamond Aircraft’s DA62 twin diesel, showing at Aero 2015, is now EASA-certified. view on YouTube

Sonex Aircraft will collaborate with Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation to develop an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle based on its Xenos line of motor gliders. Under the agreement, Oshkosh-based Sonex will produce the aircraft, to be called Teros, and ship them to NASC in Pennsylvania for UAV outfitting. The first prototype Teros is slated for delivery in […]

This week’s announcement that the FAA closed comments on the NPRM for small UAS so caught me by surprise that I never got around to submitting my own comments. Not that it matters much; my views were well represented by many others, perhaps with just a couple of exceptions I’ll get to in a moment. […]

Blue Origin launched its experimental spacecraft this week from Texas, marking the start of the company’s unmanned test flights with plans to develop a space tourism vehicle.The New Shepard craft launched Wednesday from Blue Origin’s test site, reached an altitude of 58 miles, then separated from its rocket and deployed a parachute for landing, Reuters […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found an aircraft restoration competition, news from the upcoming Air Race Classic, a partnership between Jet Logistics and Medflight One, and the Aero Club of New England’s annual award announcement.The National Aviation Heritage Invitational (NAHI) is proud to be able to create the Best Contemporary trophy in […]

The ever-intriguing X-37B space plane is slated for its fourth mission in May, this time to experiment with a propulsion system for military satellites, the Air Force announced this week. The target launch date is May 20, according to multiple news sources. The military has revealed little about past missions, prompting broad speculation about what […]

CubCrafters debuted its EX-2 at Sun ‘n Fun 2015 with a number of airframe design improvements over the original EX model. view on YouTube