Recent Updates

One of the best things about going out to visit kit companies—aside from the airplanes of course—is meeting the people that make up our community and industry. I have spent time at so many kit companies that it is hard to visit with all the acquaintances I have made over the years when I get […]

Outgoing FAA Executive Director of Certification Earl Lawrence has joined Xwing as the company’s new chief compliance and quality officer. Based in California, Xwing develops autonomous flight technology designed for current and future aircraft. Before taking over as executive director of the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service (AIR) in 2018, Lawrence served as executive director of […]

Joby Aviation announced on Thursday that it has received its Part 135 air carrier certificate from the FAA, allowing the company to operate aircraft commercially. Joby reported that the certification process included the submission of more than 850 pages of manuals and required its pilots to “demonstrate mastery of the Company’s procedures and training under […]

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time on Friday evening. The uncrewed mission, Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), launched from Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday. As previously reported by AVweb, OFT-2 was originally expected to launch last year but […]

Drone delivery company Flytrex announced on Thursday that it has expanded its offerings in Holly Springs, North Carolina, through a partnership with national sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s Subs. As previously reported by AVweb, Flytrex received FAA approval for a delivery area covering a 1-nautical-mile radius from all of its operating stations in North Carolina last […]

Joby Aviation reported on Tuesday that its prototype electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft met the company’s noise profile goals during acoustic testing completed with NASA last fall. The tests, which took place at Joby’s facility near Big Sur, California, were conducted over two weeks in September 2021 as part of as part of […]

“For the time and money invested, there is no other airplane of this type that I would rather have,” said Paul Cox of Fort Myers, Florida. Without context, his opinion leans toward the homebuilder hyperbole side of the dial. The Experimental/Amateur-Built design he’s talking about is the Mustang II. He’s scratch-built two of them from […]

Airbus is heading a Germany-based partnership aimed at “making urban air mobility within and between cities a reality.” Called the Air Mobility Initiative (AMI), the program will set up a series of research projects focused on three areas: electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, unmanned traffic management (UTM) services and airport and city integration. […]

When you write about kitbuilt airplanes, every now and then a unique opportunity pops up. I recently heard a rumor that after 30 years in the aircraft manufacturing business, Darryl Murphy had sold Murphy Aircraft Manufacturing LTD and was now able to spend time fishing the lakes around Vancouver, British Columbia, with one of his […]

Urban-Air Port opened its first hub for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Coventry, U.K., on Monday. According to the company, the 1,700-square-meter (about 18,300-square-foot) prefabricated Air-One “vertiport,” which was designed for “rapid” assembly and disassembly, will operate in Coventry for at least a month. While open, it will demonstrate operations such as […]