Business & Military

Bombardier says the first flight of its Learjet 85 mostly composite business jet is imminent. Bombardier Aerospace President Guy Hachey told reporters he’s traveling to Wichita this week to oversee final preparations for the flight. “I believe that we’re very close but problems happen at the end, we’re not going to do anything that is […]

AVweb visits Hawker Pacific in Shaghai. view on YouTube

Doorstep delivery via drone for Amazon customers is just two to five years away, CEO Jeff Bezos told 60 Minutes correspondent Charlie Rose on Sunday. Bezos showed Rose two experimental octocopters, autonomous drones that will be able to carry up to five pounds and deliver goods from fulfillment centers to buyers up to 10 miles […]

There’s no guarantee Cessna will build the Textron AirLand Scorpion light tactical jet over the long term if it gains the orders its backers hope for. In a weekend email exchange with AVweb, Textron spokesman David Sylvestre said that even though Cessna engineers and workers played a major role in building the prototype, the Textron-owned […]

Major Douglas Witmer, flying on exchange with the Argentine air force, was recognized at the Pentagon this month for safely returning to the ground an AT-63 Pampa II aircraft (and his student) after losing 80 percent of his left wing to a midair. Witmer was flying as part of a six-plane demonstration formation on Aug. […]

China has declared an airspace defense zone over the East China Sea above territory claimed by South Korea and Japan, prompting criticism from Japan, the U.S., and South Korea, and some direct challenges in recent days. China declared the zone, Saturday, saying it would police the airspace. Japan, the U.S. and South Korea have refused […]

For aircraft, increases in aerodynamic efficiency often translate to increases in economic efficiency, and NASAs bug team has recently concluded tests on eight different coatings designed to reduce bug accumulation for that very purpose. The team flew NASA Langleys HU-25C Falcon jet through low-altitude flight this past summer in Virginia. The flights included multiple departures […]

Textron, the parent company of Cessna, is getting ready to fly the prototype of the Scorpion light attack jet it’s developing with a company called AirLand Enterprises LLC. The joint venture hopes to have the Scorpion flying by Dec. 5. AirLand has no operating website that we can find but LinkedIn names its CEO as […]

A jellyfish and an owl have inspired researchers recently with new insights about how to fly more efficiently and with less noise. The oscillating movement used by jellyfish underwater can translate into aerial capabilities, as proven by a tiny hovercraft built by Leif Ristroph, a mathematician at New York University. The tiny 3-inch-wide prototype, which […]

Textron, the parent company of Cessna and Bell Helicopter, announced on Friday that it has agreed to buy two flight simulation and aircraft training companies — Mechtronix, based in Montreal, and Opinicus Corp., based in Lutz, Fla. The two companies will be combined with Textron’s existing training and simulation business for military pilots in South […]