FROM THE INSTITUTE
Commercial aviation is staring down a massive shortfall—and time is running out. According to industry estimates, more than 40,000 new aircraft will be needed by 2050 to meet global air transportation demand. Yet between them, the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers—Boeing and Airbus—can only deliver about 26,000 new aircraft by the midpoint of this century.
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Tag: From the Institute
Student Scientist’s Space Biology Experiment Wins 2025 Genes in Space Competition
FROM THE INSTITUTE
Under the bright lights of the ASCEND stage in Las Vegas, a remarkable moment for student innovation took flight. Nitya Johar, 17, of Skyline High School in Sammamish, Washington, was announced as the 2025 national winner of the Genes in Space competition. Her pioneering experiment will investigate codon usage bias in space, a discovery that could advance spaceflight medicine and biomanufacturing in microgravity.
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Hybrid Aircraft One Step Toward the Future of Aviation
FROM THE INSTITUTE
Aircraft powered by hybrid-electric engines can bridge the gap between today’s fossil-fuel jets and tomorrow’s zero-emission aircraft, said Susan Ying, CEO of AMP2FLY, during the 2025 AIAA Wright Brothers Lecture in Aeronautics. Ying, an AIAA Fellow, used the lecture during the 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum in July to unveil a practical roadmap for hybrid-electric flight for commercial aviation that will help achieve near net-zero emissions by 2050 and provide cleaner flights for short-hop routes for commercial success “within a few years.”
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Defending Space from Emerging Threats “A Team Sport,” Says USSF
FROM THE INSTITUTE
Every week, the head of U.S. Space Force’s Space Rapid Capabilities Office is briefed on the growing number of capabilities that adversaries like Russia and China are launching in the space domain. “It’s a little discouraging to see the pace and scale in which capabilities are being fielded into a domain that threatens the Space Force posture and our commercial capabilities,” said Kelly Hammett during last month’s ASCEND panel on navigating the evolving threat landscape.
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Members Share Flight Deck Lessons on Psychological Safety for Every Work Environment
FROM THE INSTITUTE
Pulling from personal experiences in the flight deck and applying them to the business meeting room, Amanda Simpson joined U.S. Air Force Test Pilot Lt. Col. Carlos Pinedo for an AIAA webinar highlighting the importance of psychological safety in every work environment. They especially emphasized how leaders and subordinates can create and maintain an environment where all ideas and opinions are valued.
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From Space to Signal: Experts Outline the Stakes and Solutions for U.S. PNT Resilience
From the Institute
“If GPS is compromised, the consequences will cascade across sectors, from defense to commerce to everyday civilian life. This is not a theoretical risk; it is a strategic imperative,” stated AIAA CEO Clay Mowry at a July briefing at the U.S. House of Representatives. The discussion brought together more than 80 Congressional staff, industry leaders, and stakeholders to hear an expert panel assess the state of U.S. PNT capabilities that support the GPS.
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Panel Delves into Autonomy, UAS Advances in Disaster Response and the Need for Better Policy Enforcement
FROM THE INSTITUTE
As the United States braces for more natural disasters, NASA and private industry are looking to a future national airspace that can manage crewed aircraft and autonomous drones together. Yet, hurdles remain before the technology and policy are aligned, said drone and aviation safety experts, speaking on the “Revolutionizing Disaster Relief” panel at the 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum in July.
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Are Seaplanes Making a Comeback? It May Be Just Beyond the Horizon
FROM THE INSTITUTE
Once upon a time, before the arrival of the jet age, seaplanes owned the skies. Float-planes and flying boats dominated international travel in the earliest decades of aviation, such as the Boeing 314 Clipper that was a mainstay of Pan American’s service and ferried President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Miami to Morocco during World War II. Now, a renaissance may be just beyond the horizon.
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Technology Can’t Replace Human Pilots, Safety Expert Warns at AIAA AVIATION Forum
FROM THE INSTITUTE
In a stark warning to aviation technologists and policymakers, veteran air safety investigator Greg Feith cautioned against overrelying on automation, emphasizing that human pilots remain critical to aviation safety. Speaking at the 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum, Feith, a former senior investigator with the NTSB, urged the aviation industry to continue to value human intervention in flight operations at a time when adoption of automation is growing across general and commercial aviation systems.
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AFWERX: Accelerating Technology from Civilian to Military Use
FROM THE INSTITUTE
The U.S. Air Force is always looking for novel technology where industrial innovation can be leveraged into the Department of Defense. So says Lt. Col. Jonathan “Spades” Gilbert, who leads the Prime Division of the U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm, AFWERX, in a wide-ranging interview with Aerospace America Staff Writer Paul Brinkmann.
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