Data-driven reporting and analysis on the strategy and technology of flying.
Live Last read · last published · next check
Tennessee-based startup Whisper Aero last week performed the first crewed flights with its ultra-quiet electric ducted fans, demonstrating that an Aeriane Swift 3 glider powered by its eQ250 propulsors is no louder than the same aircraft in unpowered flight. “The eQ250s themselves are far quieter than the airframe,” Whisper Aero co-founder and chief operating officer Ian Villa told The Air Current…
It was a sunny morning in March in the skies northeast of Alpharetta, Georgia, and I was struggling to maintain my bank angle in slow flight. As our Cessna 172 slowed to 60 knots, my flight instructor advised me to limit my bank angle to 10 degrees. But the controls were mushy at that speed, and she pointed out that I kept nudging our aircraft deeper into a turn, increasing our risk of […] The…
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... When Boeing personnel hoisted a prototype of its MQ-25 Stingray aerial refueling drone aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in June, the high-profile visit revealed a potential expansion of its role that has long been suspected but repeatedly denied by the Pentagon. An unpublicized test during the demonstrator’s time aboard the Nimitz…
Air safety reporting is made accessible without a subscription as a public service. Subscribe to The Air Current for full access to our scoops, in-depth reporting and industry analysis. NTSB investigators are probing the role a bird strike played in the fan-blade-out accident experienced by a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 last month as it climbed out of Thessaloniki International Airport in Greece.…
Archer Aviation will acquire Boeing’s Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu subsidiaries in an all-stock transaction that is poised to make Boeing the largest outside shareholder in the electric vertical take-off and landing developer, the companies announced on Aug. 10. As part of the deal, Boeing and Archer will enter into a cross-licensing agreement that will allow the aerospace giant to use Wisk’s…
The Federal Aviation Administration has backtracked on a proposal that would have imposed stricter certification requirements on electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft carrying passengers for hire, instead reverting to a more conventional certification approach that more closely aligns with its existing policies for airplanes and helicopters. In its newly issued safety continuum for…
The U.S. Navy has asked defense contractors to develop a new uncrewed aircraft with a focus on long-range strike capability, signaling its vision for future carrier air wings and the fleet’s broader strategy as the service races to adapt to the growing threat of long-range counter-air weapons in the Indo-Pacific. A July 14 request for information (RFI) seeks proposals for a high-end, multi-role…
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player... Boeing’s financial turnaround took a major step forward after the Federal Aviation Administration cleared its 737 Max 7 to enter commercial service, the company’s first major airplane derivative to win an amended type certificate in nearly a decade.The milestone, announced during an internal Boeing ceremony in Seattle on Aug. 3, reflects…
Boeing has presented four-year contract offers to the negotiators representing 17,000 engineers, scientists and technical workers, aiming to reach a deal with its unionized white-collar workers well before their contract expires Oct. 6. The terms of the proposals, reached after a month of contract talks, won’t be immediately shared with union members or the general public under the governing…
FARNBOROUGH — Boeing, GE Aerospace and other large U.S. aviation manufacturers have formed an industry coalition that’s working with the Federal Aviation Administration to accelerate and modernize the aircraft certification process, spokespeople for organizations leading the initiative confirmed. The Partnership for Regulatory Innovation, Safety, and Modernization, also known as PRISM, is intended…
