Recent Updates

The pandemic-paused pilot shortage will be felt again by 2023 and back with a vengeance by 2025, according to a new study on the pilot supply. The report, by the consulting firm of Oliver Wyman, says the aviation industry could be short as many as 50,000 pilots worldwide by the middle of the decade after […]

Urban air mobility (UAM) company Volocopter announced on Wednesday that it has raised €200 million ($238 million) in its Series D funding round. According to the company, the funding will be used to certify its VoloCity electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi and accelerate the launch of its first commercial routes. The latest […]

The FAA has chosen five host airports to test technologies designed to “detect and mitigate potential safety risks” presented by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drones). The airports selected are New Jersey’s Atlantic City International Airport (ACY); Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) in New York; Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) in Columbus, Ohio; Huntsville International Airport (HSV) in […]

All-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Kitty Hawk and international health care company Falck have announced that they will be collaborating on adapting Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside eVTOL for emergency response operations. According to the companies, the partnership’s first priority will be developing a framework for integrating Heaviside into emergency services. Falck intends to […]

Joby Aviation has released the first in-flight video of its tiltrotor eVTOL after taking the somewhat secretive startup public in a deal worth $1.6 billion. The born-in-a-barn aircraft is shown going through basic flight maneuvers in the video. It appears to be unmanned and flown by remote control. It has five seats and Joby says […]

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) announced the seven finalists competing for the 2020 Robert J. Collier Trophy on Wednesday. This year’s nominees are the Bell V-280 Valor, Boeing Confident Travel Initiative, Garmin Autoland, Reliable Robotics Remotely Operated Aircraft System (ROAS), SpaceX Falcon 9 & Dragon 2, U.S. Department of the Air Force Green Propellant Infusion […]

NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on Thursday afternoon, 203 days after it launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a ULA Atlas V 541 rocket. The 2,263-pound rover is on a two-year mission to look for signs of ancient microbial life along with collecting samples of rock and regolith from Mars’ […]

It would be fair to say my plans for last April didn’t originally include building a rudder in my spare bedroom. However, when the opportunity arose to participate in Zenith Aircraft’s first-ever virtual rudder-building workshop, there was no way I was going to miss out. Since airplane building wasn’t something I’d tried before, I honestly had […]

Brazil-based aircraft manufacturer Embraer announced on Friday that it delivered a total of 130 aircraft in 2020, a drop of almost 35 percent compared to 2019. Of the 44 commercial aircraft and 86 executive jets shipped by the company this year, 71 were handed over in the fourth quarter (Q4). The Q4 deliveries, which were […]

NASA has assigned astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines to its SpaceX Crew-4 mission, which is expected to launch in 2022. Along with additional crew members to be assigned by NASA’s international partners, Lindgren and Hines will be headed to the International Space Station (ISS) for a long-duration stay. Lindgren will serve as spacecraft commander […]