Recent Updates

NASA has waved off its third attempt at launching the Artemis I uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft. Scheduled for Sept. 27, the launch was postponed due to weather conditions related to the approach of Hurricane Ian, which is currently forecast to make landfall in Florida on Thursday. […]

The FAA has released its initial design guidelines for vertiports aimed at supporting advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities. The design standards are intended to “serve as the initial step to provide key information for airport owners, operators and infrastructure developers to begin development of facilities that will support […]

Urban air mobility (UAM) company KittyHawk Corporation announced on Wednesday that it will be closing its doors. Founded in 2010 by Sebastian Thrun, the company was backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. KittyHawk’s designs include the Flyer ultralight, Cora autonomous air taxi and Heaviside remotely piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which was […]

Lirio Liu, the FAA’s new executive director of aircraft certification, tried to soothe concerns of the burgeoning urban mobility industry with a pledge for flexibility in certifying the new aircraft. Liu told the Revolution Aero conference in San Francisco on Monday that there is room in the current regs to accommodate new technologies and the […]

NASA is considering Sept. 27 for its third attempt to launch the Artemis I uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft. According to the agency, the date, which is still under review, will allow time for a cryogenic demonstration test to be conducted no earlier than Sept. 21 as […]

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 […]