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Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have received the first status report from the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which landed Feb. 18, 2021, at Jezero Crater attached to the belly of the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The downlink, which arrived at 1630 EST via a connection through the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, indicates that both the helicopter, which will remain attached to the rover for 30 to 60 days, and its base station (an electrical box on t

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Getting a flying car to the market is hard but PAL-V notes latest milestone. Following their obtaining on-the-road operating permissions for Europe, PAL-V is now reportedly also the first to complete the full certification basis with EASA. Based on PAL-V's 10 years of test results, EASA specialist teams finalized the requirements for the PAL-V Liberty. The final phase is compliance demonstration before CarFlying becomes reality for PAL-V's customers. Air Race E, a hopeful electric air race promoter, has announced it i

Aero Linx: The General Aviation Safety Council GASCo was founded in 1964 to provide a forum in which all of the General Aviation organisations could meet to share safety information. There were only a few members in those days but today almost every organisation that represents those who supply, maintain, control, support, regulate and, most importantly, fly each and every kind of flying machine is a member of GASCo. They meet to share experiences and ideas for the improvement of flight safety. GASCo is a Charity funded by its member organisations, pilots, aviation authorities and other generous contributors. In addition to the Council Meetings for the member organisations, GASCo produces GASCo Fligh

Surveillance Approach An instrument approach wherein the air traffic controller issues instructions, for pilot compliance, based on aircraft position in relation to the final approach course (azimuth), and the distance (range) from the end of the runway as displayed on the controller’s radar scope. The controller will provide recommended altitudes on final approach if requested by the pilot.

“Many of the team members operating this test will be the same ones who will be sitting in the control room for flight, and that’s why I’m excited. We’ve turned a corner from system design and lab tests, to turning it over to the NASA flight systems and operations engineers to actually operate the vehicle. What they’re learning in this test, they’ll take with them into the control room for first flight.” Source: Sean Clarke, NASA’s X-57 principal investigator, discussing the tests and prep underway prior to the first flight test of the X-57.