South Korea’s Pablo Air has been contracted by NASA to use one of its multicopters to measure wind speed in urban airspace, part of a larger effort to study urban weather for advanced air mobility.
The UK government is offering £10 million ($11.2 million) in funding for net-zero propulsion projects under a competition aimed at all transportation sectors including aviation.
Flying car is a frequent misnomer for electric air taxis, but in the case of Alef Aeronautics’ Model A the term is a correct, if inadequate, description given the unconventional approach the startup has taken to designing a vehicle that can take off and land vertically as well as drive on the road.
Swiss International Air Lines has become the first carrier to deploy drag-reducing riblet technology on passenger services, with the Oct. 14 Zurich-Miami flight of a Boeing 777-300ER with AeroShark film applied to its fuselage and engine nacelles.
Honeywell has continued its penetration into the advanced air mobility market with the Anthem flight deck, announcing an agreement with Supernal to explore integration of the cloud-connected cockpit avionics system into the Hyundai subsidiary’s planned electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi.
Energy management company KULR Technology Group has acquired a vibration reduction capability originally developed to balance helicopter rotors that it plans to expand to “anything that spins,” from electric motors to wind turbines.
China’s XPeng AeroHT has completed the first public flight of its fifth-generation X2 electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, in Dubai, as it prepares to release details of its planned sixth-generation fly/drive vehicle.
United Airlines has provided a glimpse of how it expects its sustainability plays to change the carrier’s fleet makeup by 2030, with its first electric-powered aircraft planned to be in service by then.
Sweden’s Heart Aerospace may have moved up to 30 seats to increase the appeal of its planned electric regional airliner, but French startup Aura Aero continues to pursue a 19-seater and has announced letters of intent for another 130 aircraft, taking the total to more than 330.
Regent and TotalEnergies plan to explore the use of an electric seaglider to support the operations of offshore energy platforms such as oil rigs and wind turbines. The two companies plan to develop requirements and validate using one of Regent’s seagliders for offshore operations support, Regent said Sept. 30.
Five startups emerged as winners from the pitch-style final of an urban air mobility innovation challenge sponsored by the Vertical Lift Consortium, a collaboration that supports the Defense Department.
Already planning to develop an autonomous hydrogen-fueled air and road vehicle and associated landing and refueling infrastructure, U.S. startup LuftCar has announced plans to develop a fuel-cell/battery hybrid propulsion system for the advanced air mobility market.
Textron Aviation is to help startup ZeroAvia develop and certify a hydrogen-electric propulsion conversion for the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan single-turboprop utility aircraft.
One of the more unusual designs for an urban air taxi—Spanish company Umiles Next’s “drone-of-drones” Concept Integrity—has conducted flight tests at the Onera Test Field in Toulouse.
Electra.aero conducted the first flight of its Dawn One solar-battery hybrid-electric research aircraft at its new development facility at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia on Sept. 9.
First flight of the all-electric commuter and cargo aircraft prototype is a major milestone on the road toward the fielding of a new generation of sustainable air vehicles.
Vertical Aerospace has conducted the first tethered hover flight of the full-scale demonstrator for its VX4 electric air taxi, the startup staking the claim to be the first British company in 20 years to begin flight tests of a new aircraft.
