News

Last week, a group of Czech engineers flew a hybrid bicycle/multi-copter by remote control, but this week, another take on the flying-bicycle concept — one that’s already flown with live human pilots — turned up in the news. This one is basically a lightweight powered-parachute with a bicycle attached as a means of traveling from […]

Bell Helicopter introduced a new five-seat, entry-level helicopter at the Paris Air Show this week. The aircraft was developed to meet performance targets set by an advisory council of customers who will operate the aircraft for utility, training, private use, and law enforcement. “The SLS [short light single] class is both extremely competitive and price […]

Flaris, a Polish company, introduced its prototype single-engine personal jet at the Paris Air Show this week. The all-composite airplane reportedly has begun taxi tests and first flight is expected soon. It weighs about 1,430 pounds and can carry five people. Top speed is over 375 knots, according to the company website, and the range […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to watch on YouTube. Until this week, Yves Rossy was the only human to have flown the jet-pack that he designed, but now there’s a second flyer, after two years of training. Vince Reffet on Monday became the […]

Safran and Honeywell have unveiled an electric taxiing system for airliners that is expected to save millions of gallons of fuel and make airports much nicer places. According to France 24 the companies collaborated on the system, which puts electric motors on the main wheels to allow pilots to maneuver on the ground without using […]

Diamond Aircraft Industries is partnering with Russia’s Rostec to develop a low-cost, 19-seat, diesel-powered, composite utility aircraft designed to service communities in vast reaches of the country that have no road or rail links. The aircraft will be designed to replace the ancient An-2 biplanes and L-410 turboprops that ply these obscure routes now. “An-2 […]

While EAA and Sun ‘n Fun weren’t happy about paying for their own controller staff for their airshow events, at least they had the resources to do it, which isn’t true for many smaller events around the country. At Columbia Airport in Tuolumne County, Calif., the 47th annual Father’s Day Fly-in never happened last weekend, […]

Attendees of the Paris Air Show, which started Monday, will likely get a look at Airbus’s new A350. Although no appearance has been formally announced, the betting is that Airbus will include a low and over or two at Le Bourget as part of its very early “test” flights for the new aircraft. As we […]

Frank Thielert, founder of Thielert Aircraft Engines, which produced Centurion diesel engines for the aviation market, last week was jailed by a judge in a German bankruptcy court who reportedly considered him a “flight risk.” According to the Google translation of a story in the Hamburg Abendblatt newspaper, the judge said Thielert faces several years […]

There’s a new way to rent an airplane at six airports across the U.S. and the founders of OpenAirplane hope it will modernize and rationalize the way people rent aircraft. The online service puts renters and aircraft owners together with an eBay twist. “Both pilots and operators contribute to a reputation system, creating first of […]