Defense News reports, “After several fatal Army aircraft crashes and the arrival of a more complicated airspace in the future, the service is reviewing and updating how it trains its pilots and its warrant officers in particular. Those changes will likely include a look at the types of helicopters soldiers are training with, simulator time and effectiveness, new rotor blades and tail rotor drive systems for the Apache and warrant officers sticking to their technical tasks for longer in the careers.”
Full Story (Defense News)
Tag: aircraft
Airbus Delivers 323 Aircraft in First Half
Reuters reports, “Airbus confirmed on Monday it had delivered 323 airplanes in the first half of the year, up 2% from 316 in the same period of 2023. The world’s largest planemaker also said in a monthly bulletin that it had won 327 gross orders in the first six months of 2024, or a net total of 310 after cancellations.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Aurora Unveils High-Speed VTOL X-Plane Concept Design
Aviation Week reports, “Aurora Flight Sciences on Oct. 8 unveiled new details of a notional operational variant of the fan-in-wing concept it is proposing for a high-speed, vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) X-Plane. The operational version of the Boeing-owned company’s candidate for a DARPA demonstrator program would boast nearly the same wingspan and payload weight of a Lockheed Martin C-130J, yet fly up to 90 kt. faster and be able to take off and land vertically like a helicopter.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
US Naval Air Systems Command Grounds V-22 Ospreys After New Incident
Aerotime reports, “The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has issued an operational pause for all Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft flights across the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force as of December 6, 2024. The decision, first reported by AP, follows a precautionary landing of a US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 Osprey on November 20, 2024, at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, likely due to a material failure.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
Boeing Advancing Effort to Use Drones for Aircraft Inspection
Avionics International reports, “Using small third-party drones for high-resolution imaging and its own artificial intelligence-based software algorithms, Boeing is expanding an effort to speed the inspection of military aircraft exteriors and increase readiness while reducing costs and enhancing safety, a company official said.”
Full Story (Avionics International)
Boeing Striving to Inspect Aircraft Autonomously
Defense Daily reports, “Using small third-party drones for high-resolution imaging and its own artificial intelligence-based software algorithms, Boeing [BA] is expanding an effort to speed the inspection of military aircraft exteriors and and increase readiness while…”
Full Story (Defense Daily – Subscription Publication)
NASA Extends Work on Hydrogen Fueled and Cooled Airliner Concept
Aviation Week reported that NASA “signed a Space Act Agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to extend work on a zero-emission aircraft propulsion concept that uses liquid hydrogen as both an energy carrier and a cryogen to enable superconductivity to increase efficiency and reduce weight.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
JSX Plans to Add Over 300 Hybrid-Electric Aircraft to Charter Fleet
Aviation International News reports that on Tuesday, public charter operator JSX “announced its intention to acquire more than 300 hybrid-electric aircraft from three different manufacturers as part of its efforts to decarbonize its US regional air services.” The fleet expansion plans “cover up to 332 aircraft, including a letter of intent with Electra for 82 of its nine-passenger eSTOL aircraft (32 firm orders and 50 options), up to 150 of Aura Aero’s 19-seat Era model (50 firm plus 100 options), and up to 100 of Heart Aerospace’s 30-seat ES-30 (50 firm and 50 options).” According to JSX, it “aims to start operating the first of the new aircraft in 2028, without saying which of the three new types will be delivered first.” The Texas-based company’s fleet currently “includes 48 of Embraer’s 30-seat ERJ145 aircraft, providing up to 120 public charter flights daily under DOT Part 380 and FAR Part 135 rules to 24 US destinations.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Dassault Falcon Jet Announces $100M Expansion in Little Rock, Arkansas
The AP reports that on Tuesday, Dassault Falcon Jet “announced a $100 million expansion of its facility in Little Rock that the jet manufacturer said will add 800 new jobs. Dassault announced it had selected Little Rock for the expanded completion center for the development and delivery of its new Dassault Falcon 6X business jet and future Falcon programs. The company already has 1,400 workers at its two facilities in Little Rock.”
Full Story (Associated Press)
KC-46 RVS, Refueling Pod Fixes Delaying Test Process
Aviation Week reported that the Pentagon’s operational test and evaluation office “has collected all the data it can on the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus, as it awaits two key fixes to the tanker – a revamp of the aircraft’s wing refueling pods and the long-awaited redesign of its Remote Vision System.”
Full Story (Aviation Week – Subscription Publication)
Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick, Guy Norris Report on Bleeding-Edge Aerospace Technologies
Aviation Week reported, “From hydrogen to nuclear fusion, Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick and Guy Norris report on the bleeding-edge aerospace technologies that were discussed at the recent AIAA SciTech forum.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Stratolaunch TA-1 Hypersonic Test Vehicle Makes First Powered Flight
Flying Magazine reports, “Stratolaunch has completed the first powered flight of its TA-1 test vehicle, marking what the company called a ‘major milestone in the development of the country’s first privately funded, reusable hypersonic test capability.’”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Amazon Selected as 1 of 6 Participants in U.K. Drone Trials
Flying Magazine reports, “The U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is launching a series of trials to integrate drones into the country’s everyday life. The CAA on Thursday announced it selected six projects that will test the self-flying aircraft’s use for delivery to consumers, infrastructure inspection, emergency services, and more. Prime Air, the drone delivery arm of Amazon flying in Texas, was one of the selections.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Pipistrel Flight-Tests NUUVA V300 Hybrid-Electric VTOL
Aerotime reports, “Pipistrel, a division of Textron eAviation, announced that its new NUUVA V300 hybrid-electric unmanned VTOL aircraft successfully completed its first flight on January 31, 2025, in Gorizia, northeastern Italy, next to the Slovenian border. The NUUVA is an unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed to carry 300 kg of cargo (the equivalent of three euro-pallets) over distances of up to 300 km.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
Video
Nuuva V300 makes first successful flight-test
(Pipistrel Aircraft; YouTube)
Supply Chain and Labor Challenges Continue in High-Demand Commercial Market Forecast
Aviation Week reports, “Demand is surging across commercial aviation even as an imbalance persists between supply and demand, according to the Aviation Week Network 2025 Commercial Fleet & MRO Forecast presented at the Aero Engines Americas conference on Jan. 28. Hamstrung by supply chain and labor challenges, deliveries by major aircraft OEMs in the fourth quarter of 2024 were down 17% over 2023 and 20% over 2019. Overall, in 2024, deliveries in 2024 fell 10% on an annual basis.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Heart Aerospace Unveils Redesigned Hybrid Propulsion System
Aviation Week Network reports, “Heart Aerospace has announced a redesigned hybrid propulsion system built around off-the-shelf turboprops and electric motors, as well as a series of related design changes to its planned 30-seat ES-30 regional aircraft. The redesigned propulsion system, referred to by the company as an ‘independent hybrid propulsion system,’ features a turboprop engine on the outboard of the wing beside an electric motor system placed inboard.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Founder of Urban-Air Port Highlights Benefits of ‘Vertical Airfield’
Aviation Week reports, “For the vision of urban air mobility to be realized, vertiports will have to maximize efficiency and passenger throughput while keeping costs as low as possible for vehicle operators and vertical managers–and by extension, passengers … London-based infrastructure startup Urban-Air Port believes use of its patented Vertical Airfield concept could help unlock new gains in efficiency for the advanced air mobility industry.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
CFM International CEO Anticipates Leap Engine Hitting CFM56 Benchmark Soon
Aviation Week reports, “With some 75% of the new single-aisle engine market and the worst post-pandemic supply chain issues in the rearview mirror, CFM International’s focus is now on increasing the time on wing of its Leap engines … CFM CEO Gaël Méheust told Aviation Daily that the durability of the Leap is set to meet the standard set by the previous generation CFM56.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Unmanned Valkyrie X-58A Joins F-35s in Electronic Attack Demonstration
Defense Daily reports, “An XQ-58A Valkyrie autonomous unmanned combat aircraft equipped with an electronic attack payload successfully demonstrated suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) capabilities with two F-35 fighters in a recent live flight test event at Eglin AFB, Fla., Kratos…”
Full Story (Defense Daily)
Global Airlines Upgrade 2024 Profit Outlook as Travel Skyrockets
Retuers reports, “Global airlines on Monday raised their profit forecast for 2024 and projected industry wide revenues just shy of $1 trillion as a record number of travellers board flights. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it expected the worldwide industry to generate $30.5 billion of profit this year, higher than an upwardly revised $27.4 billion in 2023 as carriers keep a lid on underlying labour costs despite recent strikes.”
Full Story (Reuters)