Aero Gizmo
Air, land, sea or snow: Lisa’s Akoya microlight leisure plane
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The €300,000 Lisa Akoya seems to open up a new category of aircraft. Designed to fly from airstrip to yacht to ski slope, the sporty multi-access amphibian caters perfectly to the business/leisure niche of the very wealthy. Entirely built from high-tech composite materials and capable of landing on a mere 100-metre strip, the luxurious Akoya also features a swivelling wing to make it storable in a narrow garage or on a yacht. Read More
$30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE
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September 17, 2007 The prize that saw the world's first private spaceship reach beyond the Earth's atmosphere in 2004 is headed for the moon. The X PRIZE Foundation and internet giant Google are offering a US$30 million prize purse in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a competition to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon by 2012. Read More
Solar-powered Zephyr smashes record for the longest unmanned flight
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September 11, 2007 Using new solar array technology and a tailor-built autopilot system, QinetiQ’s Zephyr High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has nearly doubled the official world record time for the longest duration unmanned flight with a 54 hour flight achieved during trials at the US Military's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Read More
Hypersonic civil aviation: Sydney to Brussels in four hours
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August 30, 2007 Imagine long-distance air-travel that could get you to the other side of the globe in less than a quarter of the time it presently takes? Researchers from Reaction Engines, a company created for design and development of advanced space transport and propulsion systems, are investigating the possibility of hypersonic civil transport in a three year study to examine the feasibility of reducing long-distance flights (e.g. from Brussels to Sydney) to less than 4 hours. Read More
Boeing wins construction bid for Ares I
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August 29, 2007 Boeing has been awarded a lucrative contract worth more than $500 million to create part of a new NASA crew launch vehicle for Ares I, the rocket set to succeed the space shuttle as NASA’s primary vehicle for human exploration in the next decade. Boeing Space Exploration will manufacture a key element which will provide navigation, guidance, control and propulsion required for the ascent of the second-stage Ares I rocket into low-Earth orbit. Read More
Boeing site delivers 3,000th widebody airplane
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August 28, 2007 Airplane manufacturing giant Boeing has announced the completion of its 3,000th aircraft built its Everett site in Washington. Coincidently, the factory is also celebrating 40 years in operation this year. The widebody 777-200ER (Extended Range) model was delivered to Korean Air and joins the a worldwide fleet of Boeing 747, 767 and 777 airplanes that have flown more than 34.5 million flights across 71 billion nautical miles. Read More
Uranus's Rings turn edge-on to Earth for the first time
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August 23, 2007 Uranus is coasting through a brief window of time when its rings are edge-on to Earth. It's not the first time they've been edge-on, which they do every 42 years, but it is the first time they've been edge on since they were discovered. Astronomers peering at the rings with ESO's Very Large Telescope and other space or ground-based telescopes are hence getting an unprecedented view of the fine dust in the system, free from the glare of the bright rocky rings. They may even find a new moon or two. The pic shows Uranus surrounded by its rings and some of the moons, as they appear on a near-infrared image that was obtained in the Ks-band (at wavelength 2.2 _m) with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument on the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope. Read More
Atea-01 Rocket: New Zealand to enter space in 2008
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August 20, 20007 New Zealand company, Rocket Lab, has developed a carbon, 5.2 meter sub-orbital rocket that it hopes will spearhead a New Zealand space industry. A full-scale mock up of the Åtea-01 rocket has now been unveiled with plans to launch four rockets from mid 2008 carrying payloads ranging from scientific equipment to small satellites and even the ashes of loved ones into orbit. Read More
The Storch amphibious light-aircraft
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August 16, 2007 Due to improving airplane technology and increasing disposable income, ultra-light aircraft are now becoming accessible to a far wider proportion of the population. Joining the Ramphos in lending weight to this argument is the Storch Amphibian, a light weight amphibious sporting plane available in kit form for around AUD$57K, or ready to fly for under $93K. Read More
Northrop Grumman adds “Sense-and-Avoid” tech to Navy UAVs
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August 10, 2007 Northrop Grumman has announced that it will equip its unmanned aircraft with technology that makes it safer to share airspace with piloted aircraft. Known as “Sense-and-Avoid”, these systems have been in development for more than five years. Read More
Aeroscraft ML866: the ultimate corporate aircraft
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The trend towards radical new aircraft designs aimed at achieving new levels of efficiency and operational capability beyond anything currently gracing our skies is on the rise. Recently Gizmag examined Boeing’s Blended-Wing Body (BWB) and now Aeros have announced the new Aeroscraft ML866 aircraft which utilizes a combination of buoyant and dynamic lift to create usage possibilities that far outstrip currently available aircraft platforms. The ML866 can be utilized as a private air yacht, corporate air vehicle, business office in the sky, or commercial commuter, providing its passengers with far more space than any existing business jet. Read More
Drive, float or fly? Your choice with the affordable Ramphos amphibious flying boat
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August 1, 2007 With disposable income levels running high, expensive hobbies like aviation are coming within the reach of more and more people – and hobby pilots are discovering that small planes are coming down to a price point on a par with a touring motorcycle or midrange car. Owning a small plane has its drawbacks though – storing and transporting them can be difficult, not to mention the fact that you need an airstrip to take off and land from. The Italian Ramphos, however, suffers none of these issues. It’s an amphibious flying boat that’s just as happy taking off and landing on water as on land with its retractable wheels. You can tow it around on a trailer, and like the best of late-night TV exercise equipment, it folds for easy storage. This purpose-built little 2-seater is effortlessly easy to fly, handles like a dream and offers a very affordable, practical and exhilarating way to explore the local lakes and coastlines with maximum thrills for minimum fuss. Read More
Passenger plane design set to evolve in the name of efficiency and emissions control
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July 31, 2007 The standard aircraft design with which we have all become so familiar throughout the 20th century is headed for the scrap heap. Despite its ubiquitous nature, the traditional shape is set to be superseded in the push towards cleaner, greener aircraft that can transport people around the globe using less and less fuel. We wrote recently about Boeing’s Blended-Wing Body (BWB) aircraft, currently in testing – and now a new research group at a Netherlands university has been formed with the explicit goal of consigning the current shape of passenger airliners to the history books. The CleanEra project will investigate BWB, high-tech propeller engines and even UFO-style body shapes in their efforts to produce a light, efficient airliner model that produces less noise and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by at least 50% over current designs. Read More
Electric sports plane the highlight of the e-flight initiative
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July 30, 2007 With rising oil prices threatening to put sports aviation out of reach of the average enthusiast, innovators are looking at how the sport might be preserved for the next generation. Sonex and Aeroconversions are two such innovators and in partnership the two companies unveiled their three-prong e-Flight strategy at the recent AirVenture OshKosh trade show. An ethanol conversion of Aeroconversions’ AeroVee powerplant and efficiency enhancements for the engine took a back seat to the prototype electric Waiex aircraft introduced to an appreciative crowd. With battery technologies advancing by the day - gaining power, reliability, endurance and efficiency while constantly shedding size and weight - the partners believe the time is ripe to adapt the brushless Read More
Blended-Wing Boeing completes first test flight
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July 30, 2007 The traditional airplane shape is well tried and tested, but manufacturers like Boeing are moving beyond the "tube with wings and a tail" design in the push to improve fuel economy and the environmental impact for the next generation of jets. Inspired by "flying wing" designs from earlier decades like 1988's B-2 Stealth bomber, the company has been collaborating with NASA to test the viability of a Blended Wing Body (BWB) aircraft, using a flat, wide body that tapers out to thin wing-tips and aims to strike an effective middle ground between the tube and flying wing designs. A BWB design allows the entire body of the plane to generate lift and reduces drag in comparison to a tube-shaped fuselage - both of which are key factors in reducing fuel usage. The BWB design also provides a much greater cargo and passenger capacity - making it particularly attractive to the military. After months of development, ground testing and wind-tunnel testing, Boeing flew its first BWB prototype last week with the 8.5 per cent scale, 500-pound X-48B aircraft reaching 7500 feet before a successful landing under remote control. Read More
Eclipse Aviation Single-Engine Eclipse Concept Jet
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July 24, 2007 Eclipse Aviation manufacturer of the worlds first Very Light Jet (VLJ) has unveiled the new Eclipse Concept Jet (ECJ) a single-engine turbofan powered, V-tail aircraft. The ECJ will cruise at 345 knots with a service ceiling of 41,000 feet, yet needs no more than 2,200 feet of runway to take off or land. The aircraft's range is estimated to be 1,250 nautical miles. A unique element of the ECJ's aerodynamic design is its empennage, which features an external mounted engine pod and V-Tail vertical surfaces that create exceptional aerodynamic, weight, and operational benefits. Read More
RoboSwift – the micro airplane with morphing, feathered wings
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July 24, 2007 Micro air vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Systems have made Gizmag headlines in the past, (Reaper, Taranis, Snark and Camcopter to name just a few), and their success in the US military suggests we’ll see a lot more of them in the future. The flexibility of the scale, and the fact there’s no one in the cockpit to get injured, means that the field lends itself to unconventional vehicle designs. RoboSwift, designed by Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University in The Netherlands, is a remarkable model that has used cutting edge technology to recreate the adaptive movements of nature’s stealth aircraft – the swift. Read More
Promising trials for European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS)
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July 19, 2007 The go-anywhere characteristics of helicopters make them ideal for emergency services, but when visibility is poor their operation is limited by aviation regulations. One of the keys to enabling anytime, anywhere helicopter rescue is the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) - a European network that collects, records, corrects and improves data from the US Global Positioning System (GPS). EGNOS will provide a guaranteed positional accuracy of better than two metres, compared with 15 to 20 metres for GPS alone. The accurate position reporting and navigation system integrity checking offered by EGNOS will be a vital enabling factor for anywhere, anytime rescue services – as was demonstrated during a series of trials in Switzerland recently, using EGNOS to guide Eurocopter’s experimental all-weather helicopter (Helicoptere Tous Temps – HTT) in rooftop landings on Lausanne University Hospital. Read More
Raytheon's Cobra: compact, affordable UAV opening doors to scientific research
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July 18, 2007 Unmanned air vehicles are starting to become smaller and more accessible to the scientific community, a movement that is opening doors to new paths of research and commerce worldwide. Raytheon's Cobra, for example, is a 9-foot long aircraft with a 10 foot wingspan that can be piloted by remote control or pre-programmed to take off, navigate to a series of waypoints and then land autonomously without any further human input. The Cobra recently completed a set of test flights in North Dakota, successfully trialling new systems and equipment for digital imaging and agricultural land management. Read More
The Precision Container Air Delivery System (PCADS)
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July 17, 2007 In the vast array of pseudo weapons of war we constructed as kids, the waterbomb was one of the most effective. The right brand of balloon, filled with the right amount of water, could deliver a telling blow over a fair distance, particularly if you had gravity on your side. In a tale of creative innovation centred around the same idea, Boeing and plantation manager Weyerhaeuser are testing a new Precision Container Air Delivery System (PCADS) technology designed to make aerial firefighting more effective. The theory is that dumping fire retardant from the air as a bulk liquid is not the best way to deliver it effectively, so the water or flame retardant is broken into discrete volumes inside dozens of special cardboard containers. The boxes are then dropped from a plane in groups, breaking apart in midair to release their payload far more accurately on the fire below. If it works, and it looks very promising, PCADS will significantly expand the number of planes capable of taking part in aerial firefighting.
Lockheed Martin achieve autonomous navigation milestone
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July 10, 2007 Lockheed Martin has successfully demonstrated its Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) robotic vehicle’s ability to autonomously navigate complex obstacles. The MULE's Engineering Evaluation Unit (EEU) climbed a 30-inch step and bridged a 70-inch gap without operator intervention, relying only on parametric descriptions of the obstacles and the vehicle's self-awareness. This brings the project a step closer to its aim of providing robotic vehicles by 2013 that can keep pace with dismounted soldiers on any terrain whilst providing firepower support, casualty evacuation or enough payload capacity to support two dismounted infantry squads Read More
Boeing debut 787 Dreamliner
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July 9, 2007 After a six year development involving 70 companies Boeing has premiered its 787 Dreamliner with of one of the largest corporate TV and Internet broadcasts in history. An estimated 15,000 people attended the hour long ceremony at the company’s final assembly facility in Everett, Washington, which coincided with a webcast and live broadcast in nine different languages to more than 45 countries. The newest addition to the Boeing family will have quieter takeoffs and landings, produce fewer carbon emissions and use 20 percent less fuel per passenger than similar aircraft.
Presidential helicopter aces maiden test flight
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July 9, 2007 The new American presidential helicopter will be the most technologically advanced in the world, offering the most powerful leader on the planet a virtual "oval office in the sky." With ground-breaking safety, efficiency, defense and communications features built in, the Lockheed-Martin VH-71 fleet will have nearly double the cabin space of the current Sikorsky VH-3 Sea Kings that are reaching the end of their service life. The US$6.1 billion project recently completed an impressive maiden flight, up to a ground speed of around 155mph, and "Marine One" is expected to go into an Initial Operational Capacity by late 2009... a few months too late for George Bush to get a ride. Read More
myCharger USB power adapter for multiple devices
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July 4, 2007 Mobile phones and MP3 players are incredibly useful travelling companions but inevitably you end up with an array of different charging set-ups cluttering the console of your car or getting tangled in your luggage. myCharger solves this by offering a USB power adapter and a range of different tips that enable multiple devices to be powered-up via a single charging unit. As well as being suitable for use with iPod and most flavors of mobile phone, add-on adapters are available for other 5V devices including Bluetooth headsets, digital cameras, PDAs and portable media players. Read More
Boeing demonstrates simultaneous control of multiple UAVs
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June 28, 2007 Boeing has successfully demonstrated the simultaneous command and control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by a single operator. The demonstration at Boeing's Boardman test range utilized advanced autonomous control software, three ScanEagle aircraft and an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) console. Already an effective and proven weapon in the field, this next-generation of UAVs this will see future battlefields transformed by large numbers of unmanned craft that can operate through a central control point as well as having the ability to self-organize and make decisions independently. Read More
Speech recognition technology allows voice control of aircraft systems
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June 22, 2007 New technology that allows pilots to control aircraft systems by voice command has been successfully tested on a UK Army Air Corps Gazelle helicopter. Designed to alleviate the problem of pilots spending too much time looking inside the cockpit – a problem exacerbated by the advent of complex multi-function displays – QinetiQ's Direct Voice Input (DVI) system incorporates speech recognition technology to facilitate the direct voice control of avionics equipment using standard aircrew helmet microphones and intercom. Read More
Wind detection technology improves airport safety
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June 21, 2007 A new wind detection system installed at Tokyo International Airport will provide air traffic control personnel with improved monitoring of wind activity and advanced warning of hazards such as low-level wind shear. The WindTracer system developed by Lockheed Martin is a Doppler LiDAR (light detection and ranging) system that provides high-resolution wind data and mapping at a range of up to six nautical miles. Read More
Design milestone for UK’s largest ever UAV
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June 20, 2007 The design of autonomous systems for one of the largest Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) ever conceived, the Taranis, has been finalized ahead of schedule. The size of a Hawk trainer, the Taranis unmanned fast jet demonstrator will be focused on targeting and attack capabilities rather than the surveillance and reconnaissance roles predominately given to previous UAV programmes. While still built for stealth and speed, the aircraft will be able to test deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets and will be capable of high-level decision making to defend itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft in “deep” operations.
50 years since the dawn of the space age
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June 18, 2007 Half a century ago, with the Cold War still in full effect, the Soviet space program struck a crucial first body blow in its space race against the USA - and in the process, ignited the imaginations of millions across the world and lifted our eyes towards the heavens. The year 1957 saw the successful launch of Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth. A polished 58.5cm diameter aluminum alloy sphere with four long antennae drawn back from its sides, Sputnik covered around 60 million km between its launch on October 4th and when it burned up on re-entry on October 26. Read More
Superconductor research points towards feasible electric airplanes
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June 19, 2007 With combustion-driven aircraft currently producing around 5% of greenhouse gas emissions, the time has clearly come to look at alternative power sources across the skyways. Electric motors have come a long way in relation to cars, but American scientists have now unveiled research that would enable high-powered, ultra-reliable electromagnetic engines to be built for airplanes. Using lightweight superconductors and emission-free hydrogen fuel cells to get around the problems experienced by previous attempts, these electric planes would be eco-friendly, exceptionally quiet and highly energy efficient as well as dramatically cutting down on maintenance costs through the elimination of engine hydraulics. This is an exciting convergence of technology with amazing implications throughout the transport sector. Read More
First Flight of A160T Hummingbird Unmanned Helicopter
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June 19, 2007 The A160T Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft successfully completed its first flight last Friday. The turbine-powered version of Boeing’s piston-powered A160 helicopter offers some unique advantages such as a remarkable range, endurance, payload and altitude. The autonomous Hummingbird features a unique optimum speed rotor technology that significantly improves overall performance efficiency by adjusting the rotor system's revolutions per minute at different altitudes, gross weights and cruise speeds. The A160T will eventually fly more than 140 knots with a ceiling of 30,000 ft and a high hover capability up to 15,000 ft. Operational A160Ts will be capable of persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; target acquisition; direct action; communication relay and precision re-supply missions for up to 20 hours at a time. Read More
First Ducted-Fan Micro Air Vehicles deployed in Iraq
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June 18, 2007 Honeywell’s Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) is being deployed in Iraq specifically to identify improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the sky. The deployment marks the first time a ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will be used during combat missions. Each MAV is small enough to carry in a backpack and is equipped with video cameras that relay information back to foot soldiers using a portable handheld terminal. The circular vehicle, just 16 pounds and 13 inches in diameter, operates like a small remote-controlled helicopter and can easily fly down to inspect hazardous areas for threats without exposing soldiers to enemy fire. Read More
Successful Hypersonic Scramjet flight tests in Australia
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June 18, 2007 Hypersonic flight moved a step closer to commercial reality on Friday when the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) successfully tested a rocket powered by one of the world’s fastest air-breathing engines. The scramjet-engined rocket reached speeds of Mach 10 - ten times the speed of sound - approximately 11,000 km/h – and would reduce the 5500 km flight from New York to London to a simple 30 minute affair or the 16,000 km long haul from New York to Sydney in under an hour and a half. Scramjets are air-breathing Supersonic Combustion RAMJETs and promise aircraft of hypersonic (Mach 5 plus) speeds. The flight reached an altitude of 530 kilometres, and reached speeds of Mach 10 during re-entry. Read More
Boeing Wedgetail moves into flight testing
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June 14, 2007 Despite expensive project delays, Boeing have commenced flight testing of Project Wedgetail, a specially modified 737 aircraft that will provide state-of-the-art airborne battle management and surveillance capabilities to the Australian armed forces. Featuring Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, an expanded passive surveillance system and a highly effective self-defense capability, the aircraft will form a key part of Australia's defense strategy. Read More
WINDREAM ONE project testing underway
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June 14, 2007 The ambitious WINDREAM ONE project to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a sail balloon driven by natural and renewable energy sources is progressing. Test flights got underway last Saturday with a small prototype balloon designed to test the curved carbon foil which will run under the water’s surface and guide the 900m3 helium balloon’s flight path via a 50 metre cable. The prototype also gave Stephan Rousson an opportunity to test the pedal power and he reports that it was an absolutely brilliant flight which lasted four hours.
