Business & Military

The first Pilatus PC-24 business jet has been delivered to New Hampshire-based PlaneSense. The fractional company has ordered 10 of what Pilatus has termed its “super versatile jet” for its ability to use unimproved runways. It already has 34 PC-12 turboprops so its relationship with Pilatus is substantial. The company bought four Nextant XTI jets […]

NASA has approved a mission using Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser spacecraft, in late 2020, the company announced on Wednesday. The mission will carry 6 tons of supplies to the International Space Station. “The Dream Chaser is going to be a tremendous help to the critical science and research happening on the space station,” Mark Sirangelo, […]

“Did you see it?,” came the question, followed a nanosecond later by the loudest palm-to-forehead slap in this part of Florida. “&GHY no! I forgot!” “It” was SpaceX’s first launch of its new Falcon Heavy, currently the world’s most powerful booster, although not the most powerful ever. I was perfectly positioned to view it from […]

Consolidation of the commercial airliner business has been happening since the first passenger-carrying biplanes rattled across the landscape. In the middle of the last century, there were dozens of viable manufacturers innovating and doing their best to cater to a rapidly evolving industry. But being the best has never been a guarantee of business success […]

With the new ATP engine still in development, GE continues to market its line of H80 turboprop engines meant to compete with Pratt & Whitney’s PT6. GE’s Matt Garas gave AVweb a tour of the new engines at the NBAA show in Last Vegas in 2015. view on YouTube

Airbus has flown its A3 Vahana autonomous electric VTOL aircraft, completing two short test flights in Oregon last Wednesday and Thursday. The aircraft is the test article for what Airbus hopes will become fleets of pilotless tiltrotors carrying passengers and cargo from point to point. It wants to have a working prototype by 2020 and […]

The FAA is investigating a near-miss incident between a drone and a Frontier Airlines Airbus dramatically captured in a 27-second video that went viral late last week. The Airbus was inbound to Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport, but it’s unclear when it occurred and the authenticity of the video has yet to be confirmed. “We became […]

Boeing is reportedly considering creating a new company with Embraer to produce small airliners. The proposed deal would exclude Embraer’s defense business, which Brazil considers an essential element of its national sovereignty. It’s not clear if Embraer’s business aircraft business would be part of the deal with Boeing. Embraer confirmed the talks in a securities […]

The U.S. Air Force has narrowed the field in the competition for its new light attack aircraft to just two, the AT-6 Wolverine and A-29 Super Tucano, eliminating the Textron Scorpion and L-3 Longsword, a militarized Air Tractor 802 aerial application aircraft. It’s also canceled plans to test the aircraft in combat. “Rather than do […]

The FAA has proposed an AD involving 14,653 U.S. Cessna 172, 182, 206 and 210 models after cracks were found in the lower area of the forward cabin doorpost bulkhead. That’s where the wing strut attaches and the AD requires repetitive inspections of the area. After one owner reported finding cracks, more inspections revealed them […]