Aircraft & Propulsion

Analysts ponder how to harness the tremendous potential of autonomous mobility in congestion-clogged cities worldwide.

Digital link for aviation; Composite regional fuselage; Automotive tech for rotorcraft; Medical drone delivery; Unmanned aerial spraying.

Coulson will adapt its water-delivery system used on the Lockheed C-130 and Boeing 737 for the Sikorsky Black Hawk and Boeing Chinook.

Helicopter engine-makers pioneer development of hybrid-electric power systems for first-generation urban air vehicles.

Kopter Group, the manufacturer of the SH09 single-engine light helicopter, hopes to eventually assemble as many as 100 of them annually at a Louisiana facility.

Japanese operator Nakanihon Air Service is the latest operator to begin evaluating the potential of the commercial tiltrotor.

Heli-Expo orders for new-build Schweizers confirm the market for the 1950s-era training helicopter.

As SH09 certification approaches, Kopter lays out industrialization plan.

Matrix technology will enable more automation in the cockpit for offshore and SAR missions.

Aviation Week flies Sikorsky’s autonomous S-76 testbed as the company reveals its interest in the urban air mobility market.

London-based startup argues its approach to insuring drone flights is encouraging pilots to think more carefully about minimizing risk.

As long as there are helicopters, the necessity will remain for the pilot to be proficient in autorotations.

BCA visited nine flight schools in Florida (1), California (1), Hawaii (2), Montana (1) and Utah (4) to sample autorotation training in helicopters.

By year-end, Leonardo hopes that after a decade in the making its AW609 commercial tiltrotor finally will be awarded certification.

Sikorsky has signed an agreement with on-demand helicopter provider Blade that will give the manufacturing company with urban-air-mobility market data.

Hybrid system would improve autorotation safety and could increase payload capabilities.

Fixed engines, V-tails and distributed flight control systems will feature in Leonardo’s tiltrotor tech demonstrator.

Certification program steps up as Bell 525s go north for cold-weather testing.

Hard on the heels of Boeing making a significant investment in Aerion, one of its biggest suppliers has signed on to design the forward fuselage for the supersonic business jet developer’s Mach 1.4 aircraft, the AS2.

With orders and deliveries on the up, helicopter OEMs are hoping the worst of the downturn is over.

Sikorsky’s helicopter charter subsidiary will operate S-76s for on-demand service Blade in return for data on urban air mobility.

Boeing will provide engineering, manufacturing and flight-test resources, “as well as strategic vertical content,” to bring the AS2 to market.

Boeing has made a “significant investment” in supersonic business-jet developer Aerion to accelerate development of its Mach 1.4 AS2. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Leonardo Helicopters has issued safety directives to operators of its AW169 helicopter to inspect tail-rotor components following a fatal crash.

Airbus Helicopters believes the offshore wind-farm industry will support up to 1,000 rotorcraft over the coming two decades.