lso: Diamond DA62 SurveyStar, Blue Origin, Radio Altimeter 5G SAIB, ALPA v 1500 HR Rule
The Reno Air Racing Association (RARA) is now accepting bids from airports and localities seeking to partner with the organization for purpose of hosting future air racing events. Last March, the Reno Air Racing Association’s board of directors regretfully announced that 2023’s 59th National Championship Air Races—spanning 13 through 17 September—are to be the last held at Reno, Nevada’s Reno-Stead Airport (4SD). North Carolina-based charter and fractional ownership concern Jet It—the world’s 12th largest private jet operator by the metrics of charter and fractional flight hours—is reportedly shutter
Vx4 Development Continues, With Bumps Along the Way
Vertical Aerospace has pushed its certification timetable back towards the end of 2026 after a confluence of factors began to induce drag on operations. The plan now has been revised to obtain certification in Vertical’s home nation, getting the UK Civil Aviation Authority's signoff on the Vx4. Unlike many of their competitors, Vertical is breaking new ground, with portions of the nascent eVTOL scene being ironed out with regulators as they go along.
NASA's Space Launch System is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle by which NASA—under the auspices of the agency’s Artemis program—intends to return human beings to the surface of Earth’s moon. As of May 2023, the SLS program is north of $6-billion over-budget and more than six-years behind schedule—so states a scathing new audit undertaken by NASA’s Inspector General.
The FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) AIR-21-18R3. Titled Risk of Potential Adverse Effects on Radio Altimeters, the document pertains to Radio Altimeters (RA) and the imminent debut of 5G wireless broadband networks across the United States and Canada. Subject SAIB is informational in nature. Compliance with the recommendations set forth therein is prudent but wholly elective.
Co-owned by Don and Ron Wade—the former of Don’s Dream Machines, a storied Alabama Continental and Lycoming engine shop—Patriot Aircraft USA is the proud maker of the Super Patriot, an eminently capable and stylish backcountry STOL airplane patterned, after a fashion, on Piper’s iconic J-3 Cub. Of the company over which he presides, Patriot Aircraft USA president Don Wade states: “Patriot Aircraft stands as a proud symbol of unyielding adventure, freedom, and unwavering American values. With every flight, we
The American astronauts to venture to the moon’s surface during NASA’s planned 2029 Artemis V mission will do so aboard a lunar-lander designed and built by Blue Origin—the Auburn, Washington-based space technology concern founded by Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander remains under development and it, or an evolution thereof, will likely be the vehicle by which the Artemis V moonwalkers are conveyed to and from the lunar surface.
John S. Langford and Mark Drela Recognized for Work on Powered Flight
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has recognized the work of two key Electra principals with some of their highest honors. Langford and Drela have worked together for more than 45 years, initially partnering up for projects surrounding powered flight at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They cycled through the Chrysalis, Monarch, and Daedalus aircraft projects before moving on to other work.
For more than forty-years, Austria’s Riegl Laser Measurement Systems GmbH has been among the world’s foremost developers and producers of terrestrial, industrial, mobile, airborne, bathymetric and UAV-based laser-scanners, rangefinders and distance-meters. For 15 of those years, Riegl has operated Diamond Aircraft’s DA42 GeoStar, a Special Mission Aircraft optimized for aerial measurement and survey. Riegl has announced it was to become the first Austrian operator of the DA42’s successor—Diamond Aircraft’s new DA62 SurveyStar.
In a baffling move at once reactionary and self-defeating, South Korea’s Asiana Airlines has stopped selling certain emergency row seats in the wake of a 26 May 2023 incident in which a passenger aboard one of the airline’s Airbus A321s opened the third of the jet’s four portside emergency exits as the airliner was attempting to land at Daegu, South Korea’s Gukje Gonghang International Airport (TAE).
Also: DeltaHawk DHK180, Stratolaunch Test, Reliable Robotics Test, ERAU Rocket Record
The United States Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP) North Carolina Wing (NCWG) has taken delivery of ten new Teal-2 military-grade drones by which to more effectively carry out its mission of providing emergency assistance to citizens across North Carolina and neighboring states. Altitude Angel has released a new version of the popular UK-region UAV flight planning tool Drone Assist, also announcing a number of additional integrations that will see it become a single-stop app for all its drone services. DJI announced the launch of its Matrice 350 RTK (M350 R
Also: DeltaHawk DHK180, Stratolaunch Test, Reliable Robotics Test, ERAU Rocket Record
The United States Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP) North Carolina Wing (NCWG) has taken delivery of ten new Teal-2 military-grade drones by which to more effectively carry out its mission of providing emergency assistance to citizens across North Carolina and neighboring states. Altitude Angel has released a new version of the popular UK-region UAV flight planning tool Drone Assist, also announcing a number of additional integrations that will see it become a single-stop app for all its drone services. DJI announced the launch of its Matrice 350 RTK (M350 R
The Aircrew Of FENIX01 Radioed That They Detected An Odor In The Cabin
On May 10, 2023, at 0749 Pacific daylight time, a Gates Lear Jet 36A, N56PA, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near San Clemente Island, California. Both pilots and the additional crewmember are presumed fatally injured. The airplane was operating as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, other work use flight.The airplane departed Point Magu Naval Air Station (KNTD), Oxnard, California, at 0723 as the lead airplane in formation with a second Lear Jet airplane utilizing the callsigns FENIX01 (N56PA) and FENIX02 (N544PA).
Aero Linx: Seaplane Pilots Association
SPA staff, field directors and members work across the nation to ensure fair access for seaplanes through positive envi
Flameout Pattern
An approach normally conducted by a single-engine military aircraft experiencing loss or anticipating loss of engine power or control. The standard overhead approach starts at a relatively high altitude over a runway (“high key”) followed by a continuous 180 degree turn to a high, wide position (“low key”) followed by a continuous 180 degree turn final. The standard straight-in pattern starts at a point that results in a straight-in approach with a high rate of descent to the runway. Flameout approaches terminate in the type approach requested by the pilot (normally fullstop).
“We have brought in additional supply-chain partners and have to understand how we end up with a better-integrated plan. For instance, we were asking Rolls-Royce for equipment before we were ready for it or before we were ready to certify.”
Source: Vertical Aerospace chief technology officer, MIchael Cervenka, discussing the issues that have pushed their certification timetable back towards the end of 2026 after a confluence of factors began to induce drag on operations.
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