Deliveries of general aviation airplanes in the first quarter of this year were down by 15 percent compared to the same period last year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported last week. Helicopter sales fell even more, with a drop of 18 percent. The numbers reflect difficulties with U.S. export rules, according to GAMA. “Our […]
Commercial supersonic flight, alternative fuels and autonomy rank high on NASA’s first 20-year road map of research priorities for aeronautics, released on Monday. The draft plan (PDF) covers 15 fields of research, including space exploration, robotics, nanotechnology and information technology. NASA first issued a research road map in 2012; this is the first update, and […]
Cessna has been working for a while now on offering diesel power for its 172 and 182 single-engine aircraft, with certification of the JT-A variants expected maybe last year, then maybe this year, but this week the company said the certification timeline is “undefined,” at least for the 182, and production on the avgas-powered 182T […]
Pilatus flew its PC-24 twinjetfor the first time, about 10 a.m. Monday morning, from Buochs airport in central Switzerland. The airplane flew for 55 minutes, and the company said “the flight went exactly as planned with no problems whatsoever.” The jet used less than 2,000 feet of runway for takeoff, and climbed to 10,000 feet, […]
United Airlines has defended itself publicly and will likely get the chance to do so in court against allegationsit discriminated against an autistic passenger and her family by ordering them off their flight to Portland May 5. Juliette Forbes, 15, and her mother, brother and father were escorted off the aircraft by police after the […]
CNN has talked the FAA into letting it use a tethered drone to shoot news footage almost wherever it wants, up to an altitude of 400 feet. At the AUVSI show in Atlanta, AVweb got a look at this intriguing machine. view on YouTube
Not to be left behind in the disruptive wave of unmanned aircraft, Sikorsky Aircraft has developed a kit to convert its UH-60 Black Hawk to pilot-optional flight. At the AUVSI show in Atlanta this week, AVweb took a look at the new hardware. view on YouTube
AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found a new UAS cybersecurity program at Kansas State, a new helicopter service in Chicago, GAMA’sAviation Design Challenge winners and NATA’sIndustry Excellence Awards.K-State Salinais adding an unmanned aircraft systems cybersecurity concentration to its Professional Master of Technology and is currently enrolling students for the inaugural class beginning […]
The brief test flight of an unmanned SpaceX capsule on Wednesday was the first trial for a system that will allow astronauts to abort their launches should something go awry. It also marked progress for NASA’s plans to once again transport astronauts, replacing the retired space shuttle program with commercially made spacecraft. “I think this […]
The FAA wants to make it easier for drone operators to know if they’re flying legally so on Wednesday, it announced a new geographically sensitive smartphone app that will instantly inform drone pilots if they’re legal to fly in the airspace they’re in. The new app is called B4UFly and will be available later this […]
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