Aircraft

Last December, the team at Switzerland’s Solar Impulse announced that they were planning on flying their record-breaking HB-SIA solar-powered aircraft across the United States this spring. Today, the details of that project were revealed to the public.  Read More

Whether you call it a quadcopter, quadrocopter, quadrotor, UAV or (gasp) a drone, DJI’s new GPS-equipped Phantom is certainly a nifty little radio-controlled aircraft. We first heard about the Phantom when it was officially launched this January and since then I've had a chance to try out the, uh – let’s call it a quadcopter – for myself. Here’s a quick look at my experiences with it, and I'll say this right now: the thing was more fun than a barrel full of flying monkeys.  Read More

Last week, the United States Air Force’s 2nd Bomb Wing made its first live run with a new Lockheed Martin Sniper pod installed on the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress. Taking off from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, the practice run introduces new combat abilities that will give the aging bomber better integration with ground forces and laser-guided bombs for precision strikes.  Read More

As of the end of last month, there’s a new drone aircraft in the skies – over Spain, at least. The ATLANTE Unmanned Aerial System is the product of a program run by the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technological Development. It made its first flight on February 28th, at the Rozas airfield in the Spanish city of Lugo.  Read More

Boeing has announced improvements to the lithium-ion batteries for its 787 Dreamliner. A series of modifications to the batteries and their casings were made in response to battery fires in mid-January aboard two 787s in Boston and over Japan that resulted in all 50 of the planes delivered to customers being grounded. According to a company press release, the modifications along with improved testing regimes should prevent a repeat of the incidents.  Read More

The engineers at UK-based aerospace firm AgustaWestland are no slouches when it comes to tilt rotor aircraft, having recently developed the intriguing commercial-use AW609. It seems, however, that they’ve been holding out on us ... over a year and a half ago, they began secretly test-flying what they have now publicly unveiled as being the world’s first electric tilt rotor airplane. It’s known simply as Project Zero.  Read More

Sikorsky’s coaxial X2 Demonstrator may have taken its last flight, but the rotorcraft’s design will serve as the basis for a new aircraft proposed by Sikorsky and Boeing. The companies will submit a joint proposal to build the new aircraft for Phase 1 of the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) Technology Demonstrator (TD) program that aims to deliver the next generation of vertical lift utility and attack aircraft.  Read More

Earlier this week, Boeing’s liquid hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye demonstrator successfully completed its second flight. While still well short of the four day flight time and 65,000 foot altitude Boeing says the aircraft is capable of, the second flight is a step in the right direction from the Phantom Eye's first flight that ended – not quite as successfully – on June 1, 2012.  Read More

While most of us sit around grumbling and demanding to know, “where’s my jetpack?", German Fritz Unger and a group of friends have decided to do something about it. On a shoestring budget they are building their own one-man, jet-propelled wing. Dubbed “Skyflash,” it’s meant to not only emulate the jet wing made famous by Jetman Yves Rossy, but to go one better by taking off from the ground instead of having to be dropped from an aircraft.  Read More