Recent Updates

NetJets said last week that it’s buying 150 Lilium eVTOLs and plans to operate them as Part 135 charter aircraft. According to TransportUp, the world’s largest fractional announced the deal in a statement to investors. The eVTOLs will apparently be based in Florida where Lilium intends to build an eVTOL network serving central and southern […]

Urban air mobility (UAM) company Volocopter announced on Friday that it has raised $170 million in the initial signing of its Series E funding round. According to the company, the round was led by South Korea-based investor WP Investment followed by Atlantia and Honeywell. Volocopter also signed a joint venture term sheet with WP Investment […]

China-based air taxi developer AutoFlight has completed the first proof-of-concept transition test flight for its Prosperity I electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) design. During the flight, which took place at the company’s flight test area in China’s Jiangsu province, AutoFlight says the prototype was able to successfully move from vertical to horizontal flight and […]

One of air taxi developer Joby Aviation’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype aircraft was involved in an accident during flight testing on Wednesday in Jolon, California. The aircraft, which is one of two Joby prototypes, was being piloted remotely and no one was injured in the accident. The extent of the damage to […]

In the May 1995 issue of KITPLANES magazine, we called the Zenith STOL CH 701 “more than just a pretty face” as a tongue-in-cheek reference to its rather ungainly, but highly purposeful, appearance. First flown in 1986, the little CH 701 is a perfect example of form following function. Everything about it was designed for […]

Tecnam Aircraft announced on Tuesday that it has successfully flown its P2010 H3PS hybrid demonstrator aircraft. According to the company, the flight, which took place on Dec. 21, 2021, is the first for a general aviation aircraft with a parallel hybrid configuration. A collaboration between Tecnam, Rotax and Rolls-Royce, the P2010 H3PS is powered by […]

NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to build a lightweight rocket designed to carry samples from the surface of Mars back Earth. The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) will be part of the NASA’s Mars Sample Return program, which is working to retrieve rock, sediment and atmospheric samples collected by the agency’s Perseverance rover. If […]

Boeing has sunk another half-billion dollars into Wisk Aero, its partner in the urban mobility sector, to fund its flight test and certification program. Wisk is a collaboration of Boeing and Kitty Hawk, and the Cora electric aircraft is now in its sixth iteration and flying regularly. It has 12 wing-mounted horizontally oriented rotors to […]

One of the most common questions I received in the nearly seven years I was editor in chief at KITPLANES® was, “Why don’t you ever cover electric aircraft?” The answer we always gave was something like, “Well, when there is an aircraft that can be built by the average amateur that can carry more than one […]

Zeva’s Zero electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has successfully completed its first untethered test flight, according to an announcement from the Tacoma-based startup on Thursday. The vehicle made a total of four uncrewed flights during the test session and conducted maneuvers including a controlled hover, simulated taxi at slow speeds and limited vertical […]