Aerospace

The deep-pocketed Silicon Valley startup is chasing air dominance programs with a new design philosophy.

VERTICAL AEROSPACE completed Phase 1 of piloted testing of its latest VX4 eVTOL prototype, including tethered flights, taxi testing and high-powered ground runs; it is now progressing toward untethered thrustborne testing.

HEART AEROSPACE unveiled first full-scale demonstrator (Heart X1) as platform for testing its ES-30 regional hybrid-electric aircraft. It also added AIRASIA to its Advisory Board for design, development and commercialization of aircraft.

ZEROAVIA added SCOTTISH NATIONAL INVESTMENT BANK as a new investor (£20m); it is looking to establish manufacturing facility in country.

Acquired by Airbus in 2001, Poland’s PZL-Okecie produced more than 1,000 of the four-seat Wilgas between 1967 and 2008.

Heart also plans to fly the X1 within the next six months from a yet-to-be-decided airport in the U.S., which would make it the first new-generation hybrid aircraft to reach that milestone.

The advancement of hydrogen and electric propulsion research at Royal NLR comes as several Netherlands-based companies are designing new-generation aircraft.

Lilium's board turnover comes on the heels of the Bavarian state government clearing the way for a €50 million ($55 million) loan guarantee to support the AAM outfit.

Tests included simulating the failure of one of the aircraft’s eight electric propulsion units (EPU) while in piloted tethered flight.

Aerodynamic checks following unexpected handling issues on the first flight were added as a precautionary step in flight control modification.

U.S. Air Force and Army support finally takes Piasecki’s Ares into the air.

Volocopter has suffered from delays and financial uncertainty. Its recent board reshuffle moves Chinese investor Geely into a central spot.

CURTISS-WRIGHT announced $100m expansion (to $150m) of its 2024 share repurchase program over its confidence to produce future profits; upon completion of program, it will have remaining open repurchase authorization of $300m.

The company is also anticipating receipt of its G-1 Certification Basis from the FAA “any day now.”

Beyond Aero, a company designing a fuel cell-powered business jet, has revealed the outlines of larger aircraft that would use a similar propulsion system.

Aviation needs other transport sectors such as road transport to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and meet SAF targets, Boeing's Jim Hileman says.

The oil and refining industry should prepare for when China imposes policies on sustainable aviation and signs up for CORSIA, Shell Aviation's president says.

VistaJet brought business leaders and governments together to the 9th Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing from September 4 to 6.

Asset manager Brookfield plans to invest up to $1.1 billion in Infinium to boost the output of the company's power-to-liquid e-fuel production plant in Texas.

Airbus UAM CEO Balkiz Sarihan tells Aviation Week the CityAirbus NextGen full-scale eVTOL prototype is on track to make its first flight before year-end.

EVE AIR MOBILITY (Embraer) is now projecting first flight of its remotely-piloted eVTOL prototype in 2025 vs late 2024.

BOEING delivered 40 aircraft (32 737 MAXs; 767F; three 777Fs; four 787s) in August vs 35 (22 MAXs; five 767s; three 777Fs; five 787s) in Aug 2023; it has delivered 258 aircraft in Jan-Aug vs 344 in Jan-Aug 2023/276 in Jan-Aug 2019.

MICROPILOT, Canada secured investment from BOEING to further develop its UAV autopilot/ground control software; deal includes two SKIRON-X sUASs from AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES for use as development platform.

AEROSPACE CARBON SOLUTIONS (GE Aerospace) acquired SATAVIA, UK, which optimizes flight plans for contrail prevention via DECISIONX:NETZERO.

AERFIN has opened office in Singapore to support growth in the Asia-Pacific region, where it has maintained USM inventory since 2016.