Experimentals

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking to build a “reusable hypersonic aircraft” capable of speeds beyond Mach 10 to deliver payloads of up to 5,000 pounds into low earth orbit for less than $5 million per launch. DARPA will more fully explain the project in October, but for now is seeking to […]

First reports regarding the fatal crash of a Lancair 320 piloted by U.S. pilot David Riggs while flying in northeastern China for a movie state that he was attempting to “waterski” the aircraft across the surface of a lake, on its wheels, in bad weather. Chinese officials said Wednesday that a substantial portion of the […]

Many round-the-world pilots are in a hurry to get the trip done, but Calle Hedberg of Capetown, South Africa is taking a different route. He has eight months to do the trip in his kit-built Ravin 500, and he plans to savor every moment. AVweb’s Russ Niles flew with him after he got a float […]

Virgin Galactic tested its SpaceShipTwo, space-tourist-carrying vehicle Thursday over the Mojave Desert, exceeding Mach 1 and achieving an altitude of nearly 70,000 feet while demonstrating less than rock-solid stability. The vehicle was dropped at 46,000 feet and climbed under rocket power for 20 seconds, reaching 69,000 feet and 1.43 Mach (nearly 1,100 mph) with two […]

Paul Poberezny, who founded EAA in 1953 and served as the organization’s leader for many years, died on Thursday morning, EAA has announced. He was 91 and living in a retirement village in Oshkosh, Wis. The Poberezny family released a statement: “We deeply appreciate all the support shown to Paul and Audrey over the past […]

Brent Owens is a professional pilot, RV-8 builder, and former (and current) AVweb podcast subject who has recently found the attention of aviation publications for his written articles and his latest endeavor — a blog dedicated to money-saving tips for pilots. The website, FixedWingBuddha.com, is a collection of articles that detail methods that can help […]

Mike Blyth of Airplane Factory flew one leg of 14 hours over open water with his son in the Rotax-powered kitbuilt Sling4 four-seat light airplane to arrive at the showgrounds of AirVenture Oshkosh 2013. view on YouTube

Mike Blyth of The Airplane Factory flew one leg of 14 hours, bucking headwinds over open water, with his son in the Rotax-powered Sling 4 metal kit-built aircraft, to arrive at the show grounds of AirVenture Oshkosh 2013. Blyth and his son flew with an extra 40-gallon fuel tank in the back seat and 80 […]

It has no brakes, no steerable gear, and no forward visibility, but if you don’t (and also if you do) ball it up on the grass, your three-quarter-scale kit-built Spirit of St. Louis from Robert Baslee’s Airdrome Aeroplanes will likely attract a lot of attention. Baslee originally got into the replica business out of self […]

Students at 27 high schools from 22 states competed for the chance to build two Glasair Sportsman aircraft that were finished and on display at AirVenture Oshkosh. The effort involved aviation industry leaders organized under GAMA. Students interested in the program competed by using a derivative of X-plane flight simulator software to design and build […]