Business & Military

Diamond Aircraft, flying a DA42 twin, has completed a series of fully autonomous flight tests culminating in several landings without any input from human pilots. The tests used a new fly-by-wire system Diamond has been developing for light aircraft and were completed at Diamond’s Wiener Neustadt headquarters in Austria. The trials may lead to fielding […]

The science team aboard Nautilus, a research vessel operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, recently explored the wreckage of the USS Macon, an aircraft-carrier dirigible operated by the U.S. Navy that crashed off the coast of California and sank in 1935. The researchers used remotely operated vehicles to explore the remains of the airship and […]

Most aerial firefighting aircraft are relics of the 1950s and 1960s, but Canadian air tanker modification company Conair is adapting a 21st century design to firefighting work. AVweb’s Russ Niles got a tour of the Avro RJ85 at Conair’s Abbotsford, British Columbia headquarters. view on YouTube

A team of students and their professor from a Brazilian university say they’ve set five new records for an aircraft powered by a four-cylinder engine. Anequim (Portuguese for Mako shark) went 323 mph over a 3-kilometer course. That’s 33 mph faster than Jon Sharp’s Nemesis, the current record holder, which was the undisputed champion in […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news this week found award announcements from the Aero Club of Northern California and the National Aviation Hall of Fame, a new mobile job-search app from AviationCV.com, and a milestone for Van’s Aircraft RV kits. Alan Eustace, who set the world record for the highest-altitude free fall jump in October 2014, […]

Researchers from NASA have been experimenting with a 150-year-old photography technique that captures dramatic images of the shock waves created when airplanes fly at supersonic speeds. The images, which NASA posted online last week, reveal the effect of supersonic flight on the air-density gradient. Simple equipment is used to capture the images, which then are […]

NBAA this week filed its formal response to a recent announcement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it wants to regulate carbon emissions from airplanes. NBAA said it is not opposed to new regulations, but wants them to be standardized across the globe. The International Civil Aviation Organization already is working to develop a […]

The Legacy 450 business jet, an all-new mid-light design featuring fly-by-wire technology and sidestick controls, is now FAA-certified, the company announced on Monday. The jet was first certified in Brazil, a few weeks ago. Deliveries will start in the fourth quarter of this year, the company said. The jet has a top speed of Mach […]

While two F-16s waited outside, it was actually a cat-deprived “European model” that managed to bring down a Boeing 767 for an emergency landing in Denver on Friday. The Condor Airlines flight was on its way from Las Vegas to Frankfurt about 6 p.m. when a female passenger insisted that her “comfort cat,” which was […]

Bell Helicopter’s new assembly plant for its upcoming Short Light Single rotorcraft is open in Lafayette, Louisiana, the company announced Thursday. Based at Lafayette’s regional airport, the 82,300-square-foot leased hangar will house assembly of Bell’s 505 Jet Ranger X. Bell chose the site in 2013 and broke ground a year ago with plans to hire […]