Business & Military

A piece of aviation history roared to life for the first time in a decade last week in an important milestone toward first flight. Crews at Basler Turbo Conversions in Oshkosh started the No. 1 engine in That’s All Brother, the C-47 that led 800 other aircraft in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. The […]

If, as Samuel Johnson is purported to have said, patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, perhaps the mercantilist parallel in the age of global commerce is a faded bumper sticker once popular around Seattle: If it’s not a Boeing, I’m not going. That, in part, seems to be animating the current tawdry mud […]

BAE Systems and the University of Manchester have flown a stealthy drone that has no movable control surfaces and therefore does not change shape at all in flight. The MAGMA drone uses blown air to change aerodynamics and allow three-axes control. The most obvious benefit from the innovation is that there is no deflection of […]

Aerion Corporation, promoters of the AS2 12-seat, supersonic business jet concept, have partnered with Lockheed Martin to explore development and production feasibility for the project. “Following our initial review of Aerion’s aerodynamic technology, our conclusion is that the Aerion AS2 concept warrants the further investment of our time and resources,” says Orlando Carvalho, executive vice […]

NASA says its engineers reached a major milestone this week, successfully testing the battery system that will power the all-electric X-plane expected to take flight next year. “This was an extremely critical milestone for the overall project,” said Tom Rigney, project manager for the X-57 Maxwell. “Without a safe battery system, we wouldn’t be able […]

There have been no reported fatalities in the crash of a regional airliner in northern Saskatchewan in Canada on Wednesday. The West Wind Aviation ATR 42 was carrying a total of 25 people when it went down just after takeoff from Fond du Lac, on a scheduled flight to Stony Rapids, also a remote northern […]

The aviation world was atwitter last week with the news that the U.S. Air Force had selected five recent enlistees to participate in a study on alternative pilot training techniques. The Air Force, however, confirms that they have no plans to put enlisted personnel in the pilot’s seat. “Selecting enlisted members to fill the non-college […]

There are plenty of contenders for the point-to-point personal aircraft market but XTI is aiming its Trifan 600 at business aviation. VTOL with a 300-knot cruise at $350 an hour is the projection. view on YouTube

Rather than plunge into the development of two new clean sheet designs, it now seems like Boeing is going to spend a few years concentrating on the tried and true. Numerous industry publications are reporting that production of the 767-300 will be ramped up in response to airlines that need a 250- to 350-seat airliner […]

After looking to the airlines, the recently retired and just about anywhere else it could to fill a growing shortage of pilots, the Air Force is now looking at its own ranks, its enlisted ranks, to fill the void. The Air Force Times reports the Air Force is testing the concept by including five enlisted […]