Unmanned Vehicles

Canadian authorities are investigating after a Cessna 172 on a training flight suffered about $4,000 (USD) in damage when it collided with an airborne object near a British Columbia Airport. The aircraft, owned by Abbotsford-based Chinook Helicopters, was turning final to land at nearby Chilliwack Airport when its left wing struck the object, which “left […]

The FAA and NTSB are now mulling the circumstances of a relatively minor helicopter crash in South Carolina that may go down in history as the first U.S. aircraft crash caused by a drone. According to the narrative available so far, the drone didn’t directly cause the crash but the pilot’s evasive maneuvers to avoid […]

Airbus Helicopters has flown its commercial parcel delivery prototype and expects it to be picking up and dropping off small parcels for students and staff at the National University of Singapore later this year. The octocopter took off from its maintenance center, landed on the roof of a purpose-built parcel station and a robotic arm […]

The FAA is investigating a near-miss incident between a drone and a Frontier Airlines Airbus dramatically captured in a 27-second video that went viral late last week. The Airbus was inbound to Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport, but it’s unclear when it occurred and the authenticity of the video has yet to be confirmed. “We became […]

A new technology that enables aircraft to fold their wings to different angles while in flight was successful in recent flight tests, NASA has reported. The tests took place at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, as part of the Spanwise Adaptive Wing project. Folding wings have been tried in the past, NASA said, […]

If the universe lacks for not having a midnight-red Tesla Roadster orbiting Mars, SpaceX is about to set things right. This week the company assembled its massive Falcon Heavy booster on Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for what’s planned to be the first launch of the most powerful booster since the Saturn 5 […]

Searchers will return to a remote area of the Rocky Mountains near Revelstoke, British Columbia, after relatives of two people missing in a suspected plane crash found a fuzzy drone photo in which the words “help” or “here” appear to be written in the snow. The photo was taken by a commercial drone whose use […]

As the U.S. girds for another budget showdown that threatens to shut down the government, aviation, deemed an essential service in most respects, will soldier on. The thousands of FAA, DOT and other government workers who keep it going will go through an annoying and deflatingly disrespectful round of claiming retroactive wages and living without […]

Australian lifeguards used a drone to drop a flotation device to some swimmers in trouble and are claiming a world first for the resulting rescue. Two teenage boys got caught in a riptide off Lennox Head in New South Wales and were being pounded by surf a half mile offshore when lifeguards were alerted on […]

Boeing Phantom Works took the cover off its refueling-drone project on Tuesday, revealing for the first time its entry in the U.S. Navy’s competition. The MQ-25 drone is designed to extend the combat range of fighter jets such as the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Boeing EA-18G Growler and Lockheed Martin F-35C, which are deployed from […]