CATEGORIES

CASSIE DE LA ROCHE FLIES AT 99

It is not every day in life that someone calls me to with a proposal to undertake a really good news story and this happened in August when Andreas Siebold contacted me to record the flight of Cassie La Rouche (born 15 October 1923) and who at 99 years of age was an amazing person to meet.

Fireblade Aviation EMPOWERS YOUNG WOMEN WITH 'GIRLS IN AVIATION DAY' EVENT

On 10 August 2023 Fireblade Aviation hosted a successful Girls in Aviation Day event in partnership with the Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO), a division of international consulting engineers, Royal HaskoningDHV, with the aim of promoting aviation as a viable and exciting profession for young female students.

Charter Broker Vertis says AFRICA IS NOW 'ON THE MAP'

Last week at EBACE Swiss charter broker Vertis Aviation CEO Jeffrey Emmenis said Africa remains an important part of the business of, which saw its best-ever year in 2022. Several factors drove the company's increased business, he said, including the number of customers traveling for leisure. \"That was very big for us,\" Emmenis noted \"Customers on the business side, particularly in Africa, flying to more remote locations. We look after a number of heads of state and there was a lot of travel as governments started opening up and doing business. I see a little bit of softening in 2023, but it will still be quite impressive.\"

Joby Q2 net loss widens as eVTOL manufacturer gears up for certification

Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer Joby Aviation is still losing millions in its pursuit of becoming the United States first eVTOL air taxi route, but its investments are beginning to pay off.

SKYPORTS infrastructure's design for VERTIPORTS approved in DUBAI

The vision for Dubai's future air mobility infrastructure network was jointly presented by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Skyports Infrastructure and Joby Aviation at a closed presentation ahead of the start of the World Government Summit, an annual three-day event which brings together international government officials and business leaders.

NASA and DARPA partner with industry on Mars rocket engine

On Wednesday 2 August NASA and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colorado, as the prime contractor for the design, build and testing of NASA and DARPA's nuclear-powered rocket demonstration, in collaboration with other industry partners. The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations. (DRACO) programme will test a nuclearpowered rocket in space as soon as 2027.

WEBB celebrates first year of science with close-up on birth of sun-like stars

From our cosmic backyard in the solar system to distant galaxies James Space delivered on its promise of revealing the universe like never before in its first year of science operations. To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, NASA has released Webb's image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.

Proposed aviation standard supports HYBRID-ELECTRIC POWERPLANT DESIGN

A newly proposed standard from ASTM International's aircraft systems committee (F 39) will cover the design of hybrid-electric powerplants and engines. \"This proposed standard is intended to support companies that are creating hybrid-electric power generation systems for use as the primary source of electrical propulsive power in electric aircraft,\" says ASTM member David Eichstedt.\"They will benefit from a more clearly defined certification path, but aircraft developers will also benefit.

ELECTRA AERO unveils full-scale technology demonstrator

On 12 June 2023, Electra unveiled the newly completed test vehicle by which it intends to vet its hybrid-electric Short Take-Off and Landing (eSTOL) platform. The event marked a significant milestone in the company's stated mission of helping decarbonise aviation and revolutionise urban and regional transportation.

ARCHER partners with US Air Force AFWERX programme

Since 2021 ARCHER has been partnering with the United States Department of Defence (DoD) on a series of projects through the US AIR FORCE'S AFWERX PROGRAMME with the goal of helping the AFWERX Agility Prime programme assess the transformational potential of the vertical flight market and eVTOL technologies for DoD purposes.

Pyka secures FAA authorisation for commercial operation of largest electric drone

Pyka, manufacturer of large-scale highly automated electric aircraft for crop protection and cargo transport, announced that it has received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its zero-emission Pelican Spray aircraft for crop protection commercially nationwide.

DANX CAROUSEL and ELECTRON AEROSPACE PARTNER on ZERO-EMISSION cargo plane

The Danx Carousel Group and Electron Aerospace are entering a strategic partnership to launch Electron 5, an electric, zero-emission cargo aircraft. Danx Carousel is investing in the Dutch aircraft manufacturer as the 'Founding Logistics Partner' for the project, which aims to revolutionise the air freight industry.

STUDY OFFERS INSIGHTS INTO NEAR-MISS COLLISIONS BETWEEN DRONES AND AIRCRAFT

Researchers have developed a new way to accurately count and objectively analyse close encounters between drones and airplanes without depending solely on pilot sightings.

Switchblade flying car/bike gains more sales at Oshkosh

At the moment, the flying car has as many sceptics as believers. However, at Oshkosh last month the Samson Sky added 115 sales of the Switchblade to its order books. At about US$170 000 per street legal vehicle, the Switchblade is able to both drive on highways and take-off and fly from airports.

EAA AirVenture 2023 Future Flight developments

EAA AirVenture is one of the globe's largest airshows and the event at Oshkosh's Wittman Regional Airport once again earned its title as 'The World's Greatest Aviation Celebration' with a record-breaking attendance of 677,000 people attending the week-long event that concluded on 30 July 2023.

What goes into a vertiport?

Leadingvertiport provider Skyports Infrastructure has commissioned cloud-led digital transformation Managed Services Provider (MSP) Node4 to provide the IT network components and data analysis capabilities required for vertiport operations.

NASA works to restore Supersonic passenger flight

Concorde conducted its final commercial flight on 24 October 2003, flying from New York to London at Mach 2.0, twice the speed of sound in about 3.5-hours.

Astronics confirms orders from ten eVTOL manufacturers

Headquartered in New York State, Astronics Corporation (Astronics) has announced that the company is in receipt of firm orders from ten eVTOL manufacturers who are developing electrical aircraft for emerging air mobility missions.

AMPAIRE provides company update

Founded in 2016 under the guiding principle of establishing itself as the world's foremost developer of practical electric aircraft, Los Angeles-based Ampaire has made headlines and demonstrable progress toward upgrading existing utility aircraft to hybrid-electric power.

HAVE YOU FACED FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS AND FLIGHT DELAYS?

In the wake of thousands of cancelled flights and the extensive flight delays travellers are facing, Jonathan Merry, CEO of MoneyTransfers.com has put together some of his key recommendations to navigate the upcoming flight delays.

LOCKHEED U-2 FLIES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AUGUST 1955

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed 'Dragon Lady', is an American single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated from the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) or the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering.

LABOUR SHORTAGE AND MATERIAL COSTS THREATEN MRO INDDUSTRY'S GROWTH

Ever since the start of the pandemic, the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) industry has faced many challenges that had an impact on many industry players. According to Anca Gosling, Director of Training Content and Development at Aeroclass, an aviation digital learning platform, despite hurdles, the industry is expected to reach new heights in the coming years.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS AIRBUS A340-600: 6 NOVEMBER 2018 LOSS OF CONTROL REPORT

On 17 July 2023 the final Board of Inquiry report by the German authorities into the loss-of-control experienced by an SAA South African Airways Airbus A340-600, registration ZS-SNF performing flight SA-260 from Johannesburg to Frankfurt, on 6 November 2018, which was enroute at FL380 climbing to FL390 over Switzerland, about 40nm south-south-east of Zurich, when the aircraft encountered overspeed and the subsequent actions by the crew (notably the PIC) led to a loss of control.

CHINA'S J-20 FIGHTER APPEARS TO HAVE A NEW HOMEGROWN ENGINE

The People's Republic of China's military aerospace sector has established a pattern of achieving technological milestones, but then keeping completely silent about those advancements during the kind of major international expositions when a newsworthy development is normally announced with great fanfare.

MINIMISING THE RISK OF ENGINE FAILURE

Almost from the beginning of our training, pilots are taught how to react to an engine failure. However we are also taught how to conduct a preflight inspection to ensure the engine and the rest of the aircraft) is ready for what we are planning. Since mechanical engine failures are a mgjor factor in accidents, understanding a typical piston engine in a personal aircraft is vital to your wellbeing. The fact is that reliability improvements often result in pilots giving little thought to piston engine aircraft reliability because failures have become so rare.

EXTRA AIRCRAFT INTRODUCES NEW 330SX MODEL

On 10 July 2023, Walter Extra announced his company's lineup of industry-leading aerobatic machines is to be supplemented by the imminent addition of the 330SX.

IN MEMORY OF VIRGIN ORBIT

On 9 January 2023, as Spain’s Canary Islands settled into the darkness and quiet of the Western European midnight hour, a camera operated by the Spanish Meteor Network captured a spectacular fireball descending through Earth’s atmosphere. Notwithstanding its uncanny resemblance to a meteor, the phenomenon was, in fact, a doomed Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket and its payload of nine satellites, plunging as one toward the North Atlantic and a watery mass grave.

THE WORLD'S FIRST SEVEN-BLADE PROPELLER INSTALLED ON 75 PILATUS PC-12 AIRCRAFT

The installation of The Silent 7 MT-Propeller on the Pilatus PC-12 sets new limits for certain applications, exceeding the performance of five-blade propellers.

RECENT ALSIM SALES INTO THE PILOT TRAINING MARKET

In June and July 2023 ALSIM announced several world-wide acquisitions of various models from the ALSIM range of procedural simulators to flying school operations.

FIRST EUROPEAN DELIVERY OF CHALLENGER 3500

So eager was Bombardier to unveil its Challenger 3500 super-midsize jet that it jumped the gun, debuting the model one month prior to 2021's NBAA-BACE event.