Recent Updates

AVweb’s weekly search of the news in the world of aviation turned up new leadership roles at Honeywell Aerospace, Key Air, the board of Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems. Honeywell Aerospace has appointed Justin Ryan president of BendixKing, effective January 2015. Ryan will lead the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Honeywell […]

Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace successfully tested an unmanned K-Max helicopter in simulated firefighting exercises, the companies said this week. During the demonstration, a small VTOL Indago quad-rotor drone effectively identified hot spots, and provided data to an operator who directed the unmanned helicopter to autonomously extinguish the flames. In one hour, the helicopter lifted […]

Boeing launched its ecoDemonstrator 787 in Seattle this week, to start flight-testing more than 25 new technologies aimed at improving fuel efficiency and reducing noise. The new round of testing, using 787 Dreamliner ZA004, will evaluate software and connectivity technologies related to operational efficiency, remote sensors to reduce wiring, aerodynamic and flight control improvements for […]

Airbus will build five new Beluga transport aircraft, the company announced this week. Only five of the large-transport airplanes exist, all of them operated by Airbus to transport large aircraft components between production sites in Europe. The original fleet was based on the A300, but the new airplane will be based on the A330 widebody, […]

Heavier-than-air Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) flight has been around since not long after the Wrights began wowing the world with airplanes. The first (horribly unstable) quadcopters flew in 1907-however, the desire for a device to lift humans straight up into the sky and whisk them elsewhere is probably as old as conscious thought […]

Canadian GA groups are hoping to head off changes to federal law they say would give the minister of transport unprecedented powers to dictate the operation and development at all the country’s aviation facilities, even the smallest privately owned airstrips. The groups say they were surprised when two short paragraphs showed up in a sweeping […]

Giant e-tailer Amazon seems to be getting more serious about delivering packages with unmanned aerial systems. This week, the company posted a detailed help-wanted notice seeking an engineer and/or pilot with experience in UAS development and a background in FAA certification projects. Recall that late last year, Amazon unveiled a test project in which small […]

China’s aerospace concern showed off its newest military fighter at Zhuhai’s Airshow, Bloomberg News reported this week. The J-31 fighter, which flew a demonstration at the show, has been compared to the Lockheed Martin F-35 military jet. “It appears to be a fifth-generation fighter and so far of course only the United States has been […]

Continental Motors Group announced Thursday it will offer its CD-100 diesel series for existing light piston airplanes in China. The company has filed for a Chinese STC for the installation of its CD-135 and CD-155 engines in the Cessna 172, Piper PA-28 series and the Diamond DA40. It expects the STC to be granted in […]

A Learjet 60 carrying U2 singer Bono lost a rear cargo door during a flight across Europe early Thursday, resulting in some lost bags, but no injuries, CNNreported.The incident elicited a frenzy of media reports from around the world.Ground crew found the hatch was missing after the jet landed at its destination, Berlin’s Schonefeld Airport. […]