Recent Updates

The Government Accountability Office says the FAA is dragging its feet on integrating drones into the National Airspace System and confounding industry efforts to get their businesses off the ground. In a report published last week, the GAO says the agency needs to step up its efforts to create a comprehensive strategy for drones to […]

The Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience, a nonprofit organization based in Covington, Tennessee, is dedicated to preserving, flying and training pilots in Burt Rutan’s canard designs. Ryszard Zadow, the founder and prime mover behind RAFE, had a dream—he wanted to acquire a flying example of each Burt Rutan homebuilt design and fly them at places like the […]

The Government of Canada has finalized an agreement with the U.S. government and Lockheed Martin to acquire 88 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Valued at C$19 billion ($14.3 billion), the deal also includes associated equipment, sustainment setup and services and the construction of fighter squadron facilities in Bagotville […]

The FAA has signed a Declaration of Cooperation with the Korea Office of Civil Aviation (KOCA) to collaborate on future advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft development and operations. According to the FAA, the agencies will “work together to promote the safety oversight of AAM, including airworthiness, licensing, and operations.” Similar partnerships are in place with […]

Edge Performance of Notodden, Norway, has been around for little more than a decade, but their EFI and Rotax upgrades have quickly become popular, setting a high bar with race-quality components. I’ll be putting the EP912sti in the SR-1 race plane—not only does it have exceptional power to weight (important given the 661-pound weight limit for […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules to allow wireless communications for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drones) in the 5030 to 5091 MHz band, which would give operators to access the licensed spectrum. The Commission further stated that it is seeking comments on “whether measures are necessary to facilitate such use on flexible-use wireless networks.” […]

Retired NASA astronaut Walter Cunningham passed away last Tuesday at the age of 90. Selected for NASA’s third astronaut class in 1963, Cunningham went to space on the Apollo 7 mission, which was noted for being the first crewed flight test of the Apollo spacecraft. Before joining NASA, he served as a fighter pilot in […]

Israel-based advanced air mobility (AAM) company AIR has announced that its AIR ONE electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype has successfully completed its first full transition from hover to cruise flight. AIR reported that the aircraft was loaded to its maximum takeoff weight of 1100 kg (2425 pounds) for the flight and reached its […]

NASA has crash-tested a version of an eVTOL fuselage and the crumpled result will provide plenty of data on some NASA innovations included in the mock-up. The composite structure was hoisted about 30 feet in the air and sent on an inclined trajectory to the concrete below in a simulation of an emergency landing by […]

The Spanish National Police (SNP) have officially started trial operations with the Ehang EH216 autonomous electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. SNP and China-based autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) company EHang announced the collaboration in October 2021, stating that they would be exploring how to best use AAV technology in emergency and security missions through […]