CATEGORIES

AMPAIRE WINS NASA AWARD FOR INNOVATIVE HYBRID

New AMP drive AMP-H270 configuration for smaller aircraft and distributed propulsion can serve multiple markets.

ROLLS-ROYCE CONDUCTS FIRST-EVER TEST OF HYDROGEN-POWERED REGIONAL JET ENGINE

Rolls-Royce claims it has conducted the 'world's first run' of a regional aircraft engine powered with hydrogen.

EMBRAER REVEALS SUSTAINABLE AIRCRAFT MODELS AS PART OF ENERGIA

As a part of the company's progress report on Energia, Embraer revealed new aircraft concepts. The initiative to achieve net zero by 2050 has led Embraer to focus on hybrid-electric designs and hydrogen-electric propulsion.

AIRBUS AND ARIANEGROUP COLLABORATE ON HYDROGEN FUELLING FACILITY

ArianeGroup, a joint venture of Airbus and Safran and a worldleader in space propulsion technologies have announced they will work together to build the first liquid hydrogen refuelling facility for ZEROe aircraft at Toulouse, Blagnac airport (TLS). The station is slated to be operational in 2025.

SAMSON SWITCHBlade 'flying car' CLIMBS TO 100 RESERvations per month

Samson Sky, the creator of the futuristic Switchblade Flying Car, has reached more than 100 reservations per month in the last six months.

AIRBUS TO DEVELOP HYDROGEN POWERED ENGINE

Airbus has announced that it is about the business of developing a hydrogen-powered fuel-cell engine. The hydrogen propulsion system is among the designs being considered to power a planned zero-emission commercial aircraft the consortium hopes to see in airline service by 2035.

SPANISH POLICE FORCE TESTS EHANG eVTOL

The EHang EH216 electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, intended to be used by Spanish National Police, has conducted its maiden flight.

RUSSIA's SUPERSONIC AIRLINER TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR PRODUCTION IN 2023 TO ENTER

Reports in Russian State media indicate that a technology demonstrator for an upcoming Russian supersonic passenger aircraft will enter production in 2023. It will be constructed at Chaplygin Siberian Scientific Research Institute of Aviation (SibNIA), using the MiG-29 fighter jet as a basis.

HOW DO DELIVERY DRONES DELIVER?

Drop, lower or land the delivery drone industry has seemed to settle down to three ways of doing business, all of which do just what helicopters do but are smaller. Different ways that delivery drones work have advantages and disadvantages.

CAR MAKER STELLANTIS WILL MASS PRODUCE ARCHER'S MIDNIGH EVTOL AIR TAXI

Under a new arrangement announced early in January, car maker Stellantis is to produce Archer Aviation's four-passenger eVTOL aircraft. Stellantis has also agreed to provide Archer with a further $150 million in equity capital in 2023 and 2024 in a move that significantly deepens a relationship with the Californiabased start-up that began in 2020.

IATA CALLS FOR INCREASE IN SAF INCENTIVES

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production will reach at least 300 million litres in 2023, a 200 percent increase on 2021 production of 100 million litres.

BLUEFLITE PATENTS eVTOL AIRCRAFT DESIGN

Late in 2022 Blueflite's patent for its 'advanced logistics drone platform' was accepted by the US Patent and Trademark Office, covering the 'revolutionary' design of the delivery UAV.

PIPER AND CAE PARTNER TO ELECTRIFY PA-28-180

The Centre Technologique en Aérospatiale (CTA), a Canadian technological concern dedicated to the application of aerospace technologies in cooperation with the École Nationale d'Aérotechnique (ÉNA) of Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, the largest college-level institution for aviation technology in North America, are making ready to convert a Piper Archer aircraft to electric power.

EMBRAER UPDATES ENERGIA CONCEPTS

Embraer announced plans to further explore two concepts for its Energia project, the Energia Hybrid Electric and Energia H2 Fuel Cell aircraft. 19- and 30-seat variants being considered for both models, which debuted last year as nine- and 19-seaters respectively.

AURA AERO SELLS ELECTRIC GLIDER TOW PLANE

French Sport plane manufacturer Aura Aero has obtained the approval of the French Gliding Federation (Fédération Française de Vol en Planeur, or the FFVP), with their purchase of an electric Integral.

DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHLIGHTS IN evtol Aircraft Highlights from 2022

Last year was eventful for leading eVTOL developers so this feature is taking a look back at the progress some of the major players have made in the past 12 months.

BOOM Supersonic FINDS PILOT FLIGH training and EDUCATION partners

Boom Supersonic will be partnering with FlightSafety International (FSI) to train pilots, mechanics and cabin crew for its upcoming Overture aircraft. Together, the two companies, who are promising to bring back supersonic travel, will cooperate and develop training programmes and curriculums for Overture crews.

NASA CONSIDERS SOLICITING SPACEX'S ASSISTANCE

After MS-22, a Russian Soyuz capsule docked to the ISS, sprung a coolant leak on 14 December 2022, the safety of crew-members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has been foremost on the minds of NASA and Roscosmos personnel, thereby calling into question the craft's space worthiness.

US NAVY TO FLY TWO XQ-58A

Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc., Sacramento, California, has been awarded a $15,515,343 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to procure and deliver a quantity of two XQ-58A unmanned aerial systems (UAS) with sensor and weapon system payloads to accomplish the penetrating affordable autonomous collaborative killer.

COALITION FORMED TO DEVELOP HYBRID-ELECTRIC TURBOFAN TECHNOLOGY

A group of aerospace technology companies have announced the formation of a collaborative consortium to develop hybridelectric and water-enhanced turbofan technology for future aircraft propulsion systems, supported by the European Union Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (Clean Aviation).

REMOTE CARRIER DEMONSTRATOR RELEASED AND OPERATED FROM FLYING A400M FOR THE FIRST TIME

Germany's Bundeswehr, Airbus, the German Aerospace Center DLR and German companies SFL and Geradts have jointly carried out the world's first successful launch and operation of a remote carrier flight test demonstrator from a flying A400M.

HERMEUS GIVES SNEAK PEEK OF HYPERSONIC UNCREWED DARKHORSE

After its 'State of the Company' event, Hermeus shared a sneak peek of the Darkhorse. This uncrewed aerial system will service defence and intelligence customers. The company said this new aircraft will be capable of sustained hypersonic flight and have mission flexibility.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC TO OPERATE FIRST 'NET ZERO' TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT

Virgin Atlantic is preparing to conduct the first flight from London to New York using a Boeing 787 aircraft powered solely by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

COLLINS AEROSPACE TO DEVELOP NEW NASA SPACE-SUITS

NASA has awarded a delivery order contract to Collins Aerospace to produce a spacewalking system, read space-suit for potential use outside the International Space Station.

AIR ARABIA's GROWING CONSTELLATION OF AIRLINES IS ABOUT TO BECOME LARGER

The Middle East is one of the main players in global commercial aviation, with the region's three major full-service carriers, the so-called 'MEB3', Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, garnering a great deal of attention.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR COMMERCIAL AIRLINE AVIATION?

As the pandemic seemed to end, or at least the world found a way to live with the virus, it looked like the aviation industry had managed to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

WHEN THE CHALLENGE IS MET

On 2 November 2021 at 09h25Z, a pilot and a passenger on-board a Bell 206L helicopter with registration ZS-HDX were engaged in a repositioning flight operation from Rand Airport (FAGM) in Gauteng province to Buffels Mine near Klerksdorp in the North West province.

AERO CLUB OF SOUTH AFRICA AWARDS 2022

Due to my timeshare commitment at Mabula at this time of the year, I was not in a position to attend the AeCSA awards on Saturday 26 November. Like last year the awards ceremony was held at Rand airport in the beautifully decorated Springbok Flying Safaris hangar belonging to Captain Flippie Vermeulen and his family.

NAMESTO REMEMBER Amy Johnson (1903-1941) was a pioneering British aviator

\"The silence,\" she wrote in an article on gliding, \"broken only by the soft swish of the wind in my hair, is rapture after the deafening roar to which I have been accustomed for so many years.\"

PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS

Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for much of the 20th century. It was the first airline to fly worldwide and pioneered numerous innovations of the modern airline industry such as jumbo jets, and computerised reservation systems. Until its dissolution in 1991, Pan Am 'epitomised the luxury and glamour of intercontinental travel' and it remains a cultural icon of the 20th century, identified by its blue globe logo ('The Blue Meatball') the use of the word 'Clipper' in its aircraft names and call signs and the white uniform caps of its pilots.