Experimentals

Airbus believes electric aircraft, including airliners, are the future and it’s taking a leadership role in their development. Ken McKenzie, the company’s senior VP of strategy and corporate development, discussed what that future might look at in an interview at AirVenture 2017. Duration: 6:20 File Size: 6.3 MB download here

Samson Motors brought its pre-production prototype of the Switchblade flying-car design, which is still under construction, to EAA AirVenture this week. The vehicle “highlights the unique internationally patented wing-swing mechanism,” the company said. According to CEO Sam Bousfield, the company’s goal is “to produce the first commercially successful flying sports car.” The design will fly […]

After a two-year test program that started in September 2015, Richard Hogan’s Commuter Craft is prepping for ShipTwo, the second and final company aircraft before moving into an “alpha test” stage. ShipTwo is expected to be the final design as far as pilots are concerned, but the Cartersville, Georgia-based company plans to work with five […]

If you’ve never wandered the pits at the Reno Air Races, you’re missing out. I’ve crewed twice (crewing gets you a pit pass)—once in Formula One and again in Sport Class—and can’t imagine going to Reno without a pit pass. There are so many amazing people, conversations, and airplanes. While you could simply purchase a […]

Airbus is developing a high-speed helicopter that will cruise at 215 knots while maximizing efficiency and minimizing cost, the company said at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday. The Racer demonstrator, now in development, will be ready to fly in 2020. “This new project, pulling together the skills and know-how of dozens of European partners […]

E-volo, the German company that has been developing a two-seat VTOL for several years, has signed an agreement with the government of Dubai to test-fly autonomous air taxis in the emirate by the end of this year, the company announced on Monday at the Paris Air Show. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said in […]

Newly reorganized Lancair International is planning to fly the first version of its MAKO high-performance kitplane to AirVenture this year and a news release from the company says the first article is coming together well. The company released a photo of the fuselage of the aircraft in its paint booth at the new headquarters in […]

Patent filings for the bullet-shaped mystery aircraft based at the Southern California Logistics Airport, previously reported by AVweb, point to lofty ambitions for intercontinental travel from local airports. The aircraft is registered to Otto Aviation Group LLC based in Yorba Linda, California, and patents filed by William Otto include wireframe sketches of the airplane. The […]

Paul Allen’s ambitious, fixed-wing satellite launch platform, the Stratolaunch, rolled out of its hangar Wednesday to begin ground and taxi testing. The colossal twin-fuselage aircraft, built by Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites, is projected to be—by wingspan—the largest aircraft to have ever taken flight, at 385 feet wide. The prototype has a 500,000-pound empty weight, a […]

Many homebuilders are caught off guard by the often stringent training requirements and cost of insurance for the first year of flying coverage. A higher potential for loss drives insurance companies’ strict requirements, but with knowledge and planning, you can meet their conditions. Here’s some pre-completion advice to those of you still in the build […]