VoltAero has begun flight-testing the most powerful version of its hybrid-electric power train for regional transportation.

Development of compact, efficient rotary internal-combustion engines able to run on jet fuel has been boosted by U.S. Army contracts to advance the technology for unmanned-aircraft propulsion and rotorcraft auxiliary-power applications.

With the second largest helicopter fleet in the world, Canada has launched a program to develop the technologies, supply chain and regulations for advanced air mobility, including urban and regional cargo and passenger transportation.

Prismatic’s PHASA-35 high-altitude pseudo-satellite has been fitted with a sensor payload and been taken through simulated cold soak testing to prepare it for stratospheric flight. 

The new variant takes the Airbus A330-900's maximum take-off weight (MTOW) to 251 tonnes, a nine-tonne increase on the previous 242-tonne figure.

The startup describes the flight from Camarillo to Hayward in California as “the longest flight to date for any commercially relevant aircraft employing electric propulsion.”

Fleet upheavals caused by the coronavirus pandemic may have an impact on the feedstock available for conversion.

HAPSMobile flies high; Islander automated; multifuel UAV engines; NASA’s X-59 slips; Russia targets quiet supersonics; fresh fruit by autonomous aircraft.