Recent Updates

Pipistrel cancelled plans to symbolically fly its Alpha Electro electric-powered training aircraft over the English Channel on Tuesday after Siemens, the supplier of the motor, issued a “demand not to fly over the water with their motor,” said Pipistrel CEO Ivo Boscarol in a statement (PDF). Boscarol said his company’s flight has been in the […]

The sight of an otherwise normal-looking light twin flying around the patch with no one in the cockpit has just put a new spin on unmanned aerial systems. Aurora Flight Sciences of Virginia announced it completed a series of test flights of its Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft in June as part of a project with […]

Well, as the BBC reporter in the posh British accent says in the accompanying video, it was only a matter of time. The first U.S. Aerial Gran Prix was held in L.A. a couple of months ago and now the loosely organized “sport” of drone racing (UAS racing just doesn’t have the ring) is exploding. […]

The other day, I was sitting at the kitchen table doing a little remedial work on my quadcopter after an unfortunate encounter with a tree. A neighbor, who happens to own a Cessna 170, dropped by and after eyeballing the drone for a few seconds, said, “I’d win.” Say again? “I’d win if I hit […]

A remote spit of land on New Zealand’s South Island will soon become a space launch site for Rocket Lab, which plans to offer low-cost launches for satellites using a smaller, specially designed rocket. The site is slated for completion by the end of the year and target markets will include universities and small startup […]

After nearly five days aloft “without a drop of fuel,” Solar Impulse 2 pilot Andre Borschberg touched down in the early-morning light at Kalaleoa Airport in Hawaii. He has just flown over the Pacific from Japan, completing leg 8 of the solar-powered airplane’s global voyage.In the meantime, Borschbergtook the title for the longest nonstop solo […]

LightSquared, the company that three years ago was proposing a nationwide cellphone network whose signals were shown to disrupt GPS signals, is back. In a multibillion-dollar gambit that could reduce the cost of cell service, potentially at the expense of GPS, it’s also asking the FCC to force GPS companies to help solve the technical […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found new business alliances announced by Paradigm Precision, Pratt & Whitney, Plane Perfect and Maule Air; and recognition for two women in aviation – one from Whirly-Girls International and another from EAA.Paradigm Precision has entered into a long-term agreement with Pratt & Whitney, a division of United […]

Back in the blissfully simple days of 1986, before cable news became the 24-hour din it is today, I recall watching some coverage of Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager landing the Voyager back at Edwards Air Force base, where they had begun their round-the-world flight nine days earlier. Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff had been […]

Aircraft Spruce co-founder Bob Irwin died June 26 at his home in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Irwin and his wife Flo started Fullerton Air Parts in 1955, Aircraft Spruce in 1965 and ACS Products Co. in 1983, building the business into the largest supplier of aviation supplies in the U.S. In addition to his business […]