Recent Updates

The Navy’s Laser Weapon System (LaWS) recently targeted and shot down an aerial drone in testing; meanwhile another aircraft-mounted laser system (this one for self-defense) may commence testing in 2014. The Navy’s test involved a destroyer-mounted laser that successfully tracked and engaged a flying drone. The aerial vehicle caught fire in flight and crashed into […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to watch on YouTube. Pipistrel’s much anticipated Panthera four-place GA aircraft had its first flight April 4 and continues testing in Slovenia. The all-composite aircraft flew for 54 minutes from the airport at Cerklje ob Krki where the […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to watch on YouTube. Evektor flew an electric-powered light sport aircraft for the first time last week, the company has announced. The airplane made two short flights from Kunovice Airport in the Czech Republic, and was powered by […]

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this: A guy walks into a pilots’ lounge and asks, “Anyone here got an opinion?” Three hours later he staggers out, weighted down by the torments of the flying world. Similar thing happened on our recent Brainteaser survey. A mother-lode of angst burbled out when we fracked the depths […]

A French newspaper celebrated April Fool’s Day with a story about a plan to deliver its papers by drone, and the idea was also adopted by The Daily Sentinel, in Colorado. The story was picked up and repeated across the blogosphere, but late in the day on Monday, NBC News confirmed that the post was […]

One of the most astonishing chapters in U.S. aviation history unfolded ten years ago when Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ordered a secretive raid on Meigs Field, sending heavy equipment in under cover of darkness to carve massive Xs across the runway. At the time, Daley claimed the move was necessary to protect the city “from […]

The Solar Impulse team Thursday announced plans for a multi-stop flight of its solar-powered aircraft, HB-SIA, departing the San Francisco area’s Moffett Field in early May and concluding the trip in early July at New York’s JFK. Planned stops include Sky Harbor Airport, Ariz.; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; and Washington, D.C. One stop prior to D.C. […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to watch on YouTube. The four-seat, 1000-nm, 200-knot, (predicted) all-composite Pipistrel Panthera rolled onto the grass at Pipistrel’s Slovenia facility and successfully ran behind its 210-hp Lycoming for the first time Thursday. The aircraft is highly anticipated by […]

To celebrate the installation of its giant new movie screen, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio, is hosting an all-aviation film festival, April 12 to 14. The museum’s 400-seat theater is reopening after an $800,000 renovation, featuring a high-definition digital 3D screen that stands six stories high and an all-new […]

Boeing launched a 787 from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., on Monday afternoon and flew a two-hour test flight with its redesigned battery system. The 787 returned and landed with no apparent problems, The Associated Press reported. Boeing had said in a statement prior to the flight that during the check flight, the crew would […]