News

More than 160 electric aircraft industry executives, manufacturers and researchers convened at the ninth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium in Santa Rosa, California, on Friday. The symposium is organized by the CAFE Foundation, which was formed in 1981 to study aircraft efficiency. CAFE Foundation President Brien Seeley told AVweb that EAS will have record attendance this […]

Columbine II, the first presidential Air Force One, will be under new ownership this summer as a restoration process gets under way in Arizona.Dynamic Aviation of Bridgewater, Virginia, completed its due diligence this week and decided to proceed with the purchase of the 1948 Lockheed C-121A Constellation used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Owners Harry […]

With a production site for its E-Fan 2.0 electric trainer selected in France, Airbus is bullish enough on e-flight to project a four-place electric hybrid before 2020. At the Electric Aircraft Symposium in Santa Rosa, California, on Friday, the company’s head of development and strategy, Ken McKenzie, said Airbus isn’t exactly going after Cirrus and […]

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 […]

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 […]

Airbus’ electric airplane, the E-Fan, will be produced in Pau in southwest France, the company said Thursday. Airbus is purchasing a site there and plans to begin building a final assembly line in mid-2016. The E-Fan, developed by Airbus subsidiary VoltAir, is a two-seat trainer with two propellers and two battery-powered motors. The demonstration aircraft […]

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 […]

Flaris, the single-engine very-light jet that has been in development in Poland for about six years, has been in taxi testing since last month and a first flight is expected soon, according to the company website. Test pilot Henryk Szkudlarz will be at the controls for the first tests, which will take place from the […]

The 87-year-old pilot who skipped a gear-up Piper Aerostar off a runway in Florida earlier this month told AVweb he didn’t forget to drop the gear. In fact, Chris Gaklis said in an interview he retracted the gear a few seconds before the aircraft was caught on video clattering down the short strip at Aero […]

A new electric motor developed by Siemens, a German company, will make it possible to build four-seat hybrid-electric aircraft, the company said recently. The motor’s capabilities also suggest “that the use of hybrid-electric drives in regional airliners with 50 to 100 passengers is a real medium-term possibility,” said Frank Anton, head of the company’s e-aircraft […]