Recent Updates

Electra.aero announced last week that it has successfully completed a fully integrated test of its hybrid-electric propulsion system. According to the company, the technology was developed for its nine-passenger electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft concept. Propulsion system testing was conducted at Electra’s facility in Switzerland. “Tightly coupling airframe and propulsion systems is the […]

The Matternet M2 has become the first non-military unmanned aircraft system (UAS/drone) to earn its FAA type certificate. In an announcement on Wednesday, drone delivery system developer Matternet stated that the M2 underwent four years of evaluation by the FAA prior to certification. The company noted that the M2, along with several other drone models, […]

United Airlines has signed a $15 million investment deal with urban air mobility (UAM) company Eve Air Mobility for the purchase of 200 four-seat electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The agreement also includes options for an additional 200 aircraft along with laying out plans for joint work on future projects such as studies […]

NASA has signed on with SpaceX for five additional missions to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS). The missions are a modification to NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with the company, which originally covered nine missions. The fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification is valued at $1.4 billion. “The amount includes ground, launch, […]

We don’t normally think of hydropower as a path to Experimental aviation, but in Neil Wischer’s case, it was definitely the enabler. Starting with his grandparents’ and parents’ spinner-over-tail group for model airplanes, the youthful Neil found he was “the worst RC pilot ever” and ended up in the Navy where he got into the […]

NASA’s planned launch of the Artemis I uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft was called off on Monday. According to the agency, the launch was scrubbed after one of the SLS’s four RS-25 engines failed to reach the correct temperature range for liftoff. While a date has not […]

Another top-floor FAA exec has joined an eVTOL company and hopes to help shape the way the new aircraft are certified. Mike Romanowski left his post as the FAA certification director of policy and innovation to join Archer Aviation as its head of government affairs. Romanowski spent 14 years at the FAA and in the […]

NASA has identified 13 potential landing regions for Artemis III, which is expected to be the first crewed mission to land on the lunar surface since 1972. The regions measure approximately 15 by 15 kilometers (9.3 by 9.3 miles) and are all located within 6 degrees of latitude of the Moon’s South Pole. According to […]

The FAA has awarded a total of $2.7 million to support research on using unmanned aerial systems (UAS/drones) to assist in disaster preparedness and emergency response operations. The funding will go to five universities including the University of Vermont, the University of Alabama Huntsville, New Mexico State University, North Carolina State University and Kansas State […]

I recall a chilly morning at the Reno-Stead airport when I realized I no longer felt like a total outsider. It was 2017, the first year I towed Jeff LaVelle’s trailer full of tools, hardware and a spare Hartzell propeller to the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nevada. He raced his Glasair III and I stood alongside him […]