Aircraft & Propulsion

Listen in as PwC experts discuss how understanding and leveraging data can help aerospace companies win.

The FAA expects to certify the first of a new generation of advanced or urban air mobility (AAM/UAM) aircraft later in 2021 and says regulations will be in place in time for initial piloted electric vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) operations to begin as early as 2023.

The Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale compete fiercely but will benefit from one another’s technology as Europe develops replacements.

Advanced air mobility in the news: SESAR’s UAM demo; Paris test partners; UK airport link; Orkney test site; Volocopter cert plans.

The pilot of a Pilatus PC-12 who made an illegal landing at a military airfield in Wales last year to visit a nearby beach has been fined £3,400 ($4,650) following court hearings.

Olivier Andries, who succeeds Philippe Petitcolin, will have to watch the financial health of Safran’s suppliers.

Airbus Helicopters’ Flightlab is trialing technology for urban air mobility, hybrid-electric flight and flight safety.

Ask the Editors: USAF pushed the Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber’s first flight from December 2021 to mid-2022. What does that mean?

Germany’s Volocopter plans concurrent certification and validation of its VoloCity electric air taxi in Europe and the U.S., enabling it to enter both markets simultaneously.

Airbus Helicopter is proposing its H175 twin-engine super-medium rotorcraft as a potential replacement for the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) aging fleet of Airbus Puma medium-lift platforms.

Launch this year still possible, says NASA.

Heli-Expo 2021 organizers have canceled the March trade show in New Orleans after many exhibitors and attendees decided to withdraw in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Helicopter Association International organizers announced Jan. 20.

Ask the editors: Despite the pandemic-related travel dip, demand for speed continues to propel development of supersonic business jets.

MagniX and Eviation set up base in Washington state, focused on enabling “middle-mile” air transportation using electric aircraft.

Airbus expected to raise single-aisle production rates late 2021; Boeing resumes MAX deliveries. Concerns over widebody demand persist.

Leading Tier 1 supplier Spirit AeroSystems and the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) have inaugurated a new kind of federally backed, discounted-rate lending for aerospace suppliers—beginning with a $40 million transaction based on receivables from Spirit’s lower-tier providers.

A prototype of Russia’s new Irkut MC-21-300 narrowbody passenger aircraft skidded off the runway at Zhukovsky Airport near Moscow on Jan. 18.

Reducing aircraft NOx; Automotive radar for eVTOLs; Satellite inspection in space; and NASA picks university projects.

The LauncherOne rocket reached space for the first time on Jan. 17, carrying 10 small satellites to orbit.

Buoyed by a new production contract, Boeing’s improving KC-46A tanker program gears up for upgrades.

Under Trump, NASA expanded business, international partnerships.

Critics worry R&D cuts will hamper ability to catch Airbus. Veteran aerospace analyst Ron Epstein joins Aviation Week’s Guy Norris to discuss.

Fiat Chrysler and General Motors are the latest automakers to turn their attention to air mobility.

Portugal’s growing aerospace sector wants to put the pandemic behind it and build the country’s first indigenous aircraft.

The Scottish regional carrier plans to use a new contract to provide air services for one of the UK’s most remote island groups as the setting for the introduction of sustainably powered aircraft.