Recent Updates

Wisk Aero conducted the first public demonstration flight of its fully autonomous, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), fixed-wing air taxi at AirVenture 2023. AVweb’s Kate O’Connor stopped by at the show to learn more about the aircraft and the company’s plans for the future.

You never know quite what to expect from CubCrafters these days. The company started by the late Jim Richmond in 1980 grew conventionally enough at first, refurbishing the Piper Cub in its many forms and then seeking to improve the design with more modern materials and practices than could ever be envisioned by Piper during […]

Kitfox Aircraft showed not one but two Experimentals powered by the new 160-hp Rotax 916 at AirVenture 2023. We caught up with Kitfox’s Brandon Petersen, whose own Kitfox has pride of place at the corner of the company booth. Builder of the “no-compromises” airplane, he describes the performance and capability of Kitfox’s newest model. For more information: www.kitfoxaircraft.com […]

Van’s Aircraft responded to reports of cracking of dimpled parts found in recent kits here at AirVenture on Tuesday morning. The defects are the result of changes in the process for laser-cutting parts by an outside vendor. From February 2022 through June 2023, Van’s transitioned some parts from traditional punch-press manufacturing to an outside vendor […]

Part of Van’s Aircraft’s public forum at AirVenture this morning focused on the development of the high-wing RV-15, which made a splashy debut here last year. Skeptics might wonder if much is happening given that the airplane on display here looks a lot like it did last year. But that would be to ignore the tremendous amount […]

The FAA has approved Reliable Robotics process to certify a system designed to turn a variety of aircraft into remotely piloted vehicles. Rather than concentrate on the airframe, the company is instead working on the technology to apply remotely operated flight systems to existing aircraft. Its initial testbed has been a Cessna Caravan but the […]

In the early 1960s, a young Jim Katz was absorbing page after page in Air Progress magazine, and when he saw an article that included three-view drawings of the Bowers Fly Baby, his eyes widened. “Man, I could build that!” he said to himself. That thought never left him. In 1971, when Jim was in […]

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Joby Aviation released its first Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) report on Thursday. The report (PDF) covers topics including the company’s approach to safety strategy, the environmental impact of Joby and its aircraft, team member demographics and corporate governance structure. Its development was headed by newly appointed Joby […]

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) will be holding its UAS4STEM competition at the 2023 Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in convention. Now in its third year, the competition will include both beginner and advanced divisions for the first time. UAS4STEM is open to teams of students ages 11 to 19. “As the competition […]

Urban air mobility (UAM) startup Archer Aviation has hosted a delegation from the Federal Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Interagency Working Group at its flight test facility. The group included more than 70 people representing agencies and departments such as the FAA, NASA, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Defense (DOD) and […]