Recent Updates

Airplane owners are caretakers, according to the more philosophical among us. Each man leaves his mark on the plane passing through his care before he and machine separate to others, and ultimately, their destinies. Anyone doubting this might consider our present exhibition, an intriguing white Pitts Special most recently named Smokin’ Hot and once again […]

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published a proposal for the assessment and limitation of noise generated by air taxis. Called the Environmental Protection Technical Specifications (EPTS), the proposal covers electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft “powered by multiple, vertical, non-tilting, evenly distributed rotors.” EASA noted that the EPTS proposal stems from […]

Rewind to April 2016 when we attended Sun ’n Fun for the very first time and stumbled across a mockup shell of a rather intriguing and thought-provoking Experimental composite aerobatic aircraft. The Saurenman Aero Works (SAW) REVO left both of us asking questions, pondering the viability and performance of such an aircraft and thinking, “We’ve […]

Fifty-eight aviation stakeholders have been named members of the FAA’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) Detection and Mitigation Systems Aviation Rulemaking Committee. Established last March, the committee is tasked with ensuring that “new technologies designed to detect and mitigate risks from errant or hostile UAS do not adversely impact the safe and efficient operation of the […]

The first places most people are likely to encounter an eVTOL or urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft will be at the familiar places they now deal with conventional helicopters and aircraft, according to an updated airspace integration concept released by the FAA last week. The “Concept of Operations V.2 (ConOps V.2)” says that for the […]

Builders who conducted their own Phase I flight testing who say that the last few hours of that endeavor did not involve sitting there watching the hour meter tick toward 40 are either being dishonest or involved in a project really stretching technological boundaries. For those building a “typical” modern Experimental, where the airframe and […]

Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Joby Aviation has received a $55 million extension on its contract with the U.S. Air Force. The extension is the company’s third, bringing the overall contract value to a maximum of $131 million. The recent agreement also includes provisions for the delivery and operation of up to […]

The first uncrewed test flight of SpaceX’s integrated Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket ended in a dramatic explosion shortly after launch on Thursday. While the cause off the company’s latest “rapid unscheduled disassembly” has not yet been announced, it appears as though Starship failed to separate from the rocket as planned. The vehicle hit […]

SpaceX has scrubbed the first launch attempt of its integrated Starship launch vehicle and Super Heavy rocket, citing issues with the pressurization system. The attempt was called off less than 10 minutes before launch, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk noting via Twitter that a “pressurant valve appears to be frozen.” SpaceX says it is targeting […]

Nearly two years after beginning its mission, NASA’s Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, successfully completed its 50th flight with a 145.7-second hop on April 13. The rotorcraft flew for the first time on April 19, 2021, marking the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Originally expected to survive for just five flights, Ingenuity […]