Experimental aircraft

Oshkosh, WI – The Experimental Aircraft Association is offering a $60,000 prize to the individual or corporation that can demonstrate the most promising level of achievement in E-Flight at AirVenture 2011. The prize has been made possible by equal contributions from AeroLEDs, Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, Dynon Avionics, and Wicks Aircraft Supply. “The four companies...
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Sikorsky Aircraft Co. in Stratford says it will unveil Firefly — the company’s first prototype electric helicopter — on Monday at the AirVenture exhibition in Oshkosh, Wis. The Sikorsky Innovations team on Project Firefly removed the propulsion system from an S-300C helicopter and replaced it with a high-efficiency, electric motor and...
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Experimental Glider Flies Like a Plane, Lands Like a Bird // Though the wing-flapping contraptions of early human flight haven’t quite caught on, researchers think birds may still have something to teach us about navigating the air: how to land.  MIT researchers have made a system that can...
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Zephyr, QinetiQ’s solar-powered, high-altitude long-endurance (HALE), Unmanned Air System (UAS) is currently in the air and setting a landmark unmanned flight duration record by demonstrating what is essentially perpetual flight. The official world record for the longest unmanned flight is 30 hours 24 minutes set by Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4A Global Hawk in 2001. A...
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SHANGHAI — In 1909, the first recorded flight in China was made by a French pilot, René Vallon, in Shanghai. Now this city has come to the fore as an aviation center again, as host to two ventures at opposite ends of the aircraft industry spectrum. In 2008, the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, or...
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Solar powered planes have been works in progress since the 1970’s. Since then, several prototypes and experimental planes have successfully flown using solar power. NASA has created several solar planes including Pathfinder, Centurion and Helios planes dating back to the early 1980’s.(1) As solar energy conversion technology improves, the capacity of this technology allows longer flights...
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Andre Borschberg, the pilot of an experimental aircraft which made history with the first round the clock solar-powered flight counted on a high-tech jacket, yoga and an uncomfortable seat to stop him nodding off. “Andre is not allowed to sleep at all,” Solar Impulse president Bertrand Piccard quipped as his 57 year-old pilot and chief executive...
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PARIS — Slender as a stick insect, a solar-powered experimental airplane with a huge wing span completed its first test flight of more than 24 hours on Thursday, powered overnight by energy collected from the sun during a day aloft over Switzerland. The organizers said the flight was the longest and highest by a piloted...
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GENEVA — An experimental solar-powered plane took off from western Switzerland on Wednesday for a 24-hour test flight – a key step in a historic effort to one day circle the globe using only energy collected from the sun. The plane with its 262.5-foot (80-meter) wingspan left Payerne airfield shortly before 7 a.m. after overcoming...
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Later this year, Felix Baumgartner will put on a pressurized space suit and helmet, climb into a capsule suspended beneath a balloon, ride 120,000 feet into the earth’s upper atmosphere, then jump out and – before deploying his parachute – try to break the speed of sound while in freefall. That’s the plan, at...
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Bend Oregon Lawn Chair Balloonist Kent Couch, documents one of this three trips across Oregon, in a lawn chair lifted by over 100 helium filled balloons. He’s now planning another trip for next month. “Why not one more, so I have to ask my wife, ‘Please honey, one more, maybe, please.’ She said, ‘All right this...
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Solar Impulse aircraft first night flight attempt postponed Payerne, Switzerland – A new one will be foreseen as soon as possible (WAPA) – This morning at 06h45, the Solar Impulse Mission Team had to take the difficult decision to postpone the first night flight attempt for the airplane powered by solar energy. The problem...
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The aim The aim of the Eco-marathon Ulm is to inspire young designers and engineers from around the world to develop new approaches of sustainable mobility in microlight aircraft activity. It is a major educational project, in which students work together to explore potential solutions to both current and future transport and energy challenges. It...
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An experimental aircraft, Solar Impulse, is set to take off from a Swiss airbase in the first attempt to fly around the clock fuelled by nothing but the energy of the sun. Solar Impulse is aiming for the aviator’s dream of “perpetual flight” and to prove a point by flying through the night, says the...
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The Transition was designed as a “light sport” aircraft, the smallest kind of private aeroplane under FAA classification, with a maximum weight of 1,320lb. But the manufacturers found it impossible to fit the safety features – airbags, crumple zones and roll cage, for instance – that are required for road vehicles into that weight. Uniquely,...
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Tim Loehrke, USA TODAY A couple years ago, we told you the story of a Los Angeles man who quit his career to as a rocket engineer to pursue a dream: to create a flying motorcycle. As dreams go, this was no small order. He’s working pretty much alone in the garage of a surburban home...
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A solar-powered plane is getting ready to hit the skies once again – this time, at night. It will be the first ever manned night flight on a plane propelled exclusively by solar energy. Solar Impulse will lift off from an airfield in Switzerland, on a sunny day sometime at the end of June. It will then...
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Nicolas Hulot; Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico; 2002 CNBC (english-dubbed) broadcast of syndicated French travel-adventure TV program, “Ushuaia” (1997); While he’s allegedly an aviation expert, Hulot demonstrates poor judgement, as he relentlessly tugs the helium-vent cord to lose altitude, then must subsequently drop fuel and weights to keep from smashing into a pyramid. Wait until you see the reason...
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BAE Systems has partnered with luxury transport design consultancy firm Design Q to develop an “Air Deck” viewing platform concept for BAE’s Avro Business Jet (ABJ). Aimed at jet setters that like heading off the beaten flight path, the Air Deck transforms the rear of the aircraft into an extended living space by way...
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Stephan Boutenko, Alternair President and founder, seeks a Light Sport Aircraft alternative, an airplane looking like an LSA, but loaded with features that will allow it to keep pace with the rapidly changing options coming to electric flight. Inspired by Yuneec’s E-430 but disappointed by its slow cruising speed, Boutenko was determined to create something more in...
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Two-and-a-half years ago when I was in Iraq, I remember — among the sound of mortars, crackling gunfire, thundering helicopters, roaring jets, and the occasional (thankfully distant) IED explosions — the somewhat-comforting sound of the remotely piloted little reconnaissance airplanes we’ve come to know as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Comforting, I say, because I knew...
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One of the main points in President Obama`s speech at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this past April was that the space program needed to create fresh ideas for space exploration and avoid doing the same things they`ve been doing. One way he made his message clear was cutting the Constellation program, which planned...
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The WoopyFly, a sort of paraglider/trike/ultralight hybrid shown on the world stage at AERO Friedrichshafen this April 2010 in Germany, has a wing that folds for storage like a paraglider — because it’s inflatable. Currently, it appears the wing itself is only available from distributors in Switzerland, Russia, and Japan. Those wishing to buy...
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SEBRING — “It is like riding a magic carpet.” That is how Phil Lockwood, owner of Lockwood Aviation, described his revolutionary experimental aircraft the Air-Cam. Lockwood’s company is located at the Sebring Airport, south of the main terminal, and provides flight training as well as airplane maintenance, repair and manufacturing of the Air-Cam. Small and sporty, the...
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If one rotor is good, four must be better. That’s the general idea behind the CyberQuad, a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from Australian manufacturer Cyber Technology. The CyberQuad is an electric, remote-controlled reconnaissance platform that features four ducted rotors to provide lift and maneuverability, allowing the remote-control UAV to be used in urban...
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The Cafe Foundation’s Green Flight Challenge, scheduled for 2011, has drawn some impressive competitors with its $1.5 million prize.  Two of these, Greg Cole of Windward Performance, who will field a two-seat motorglider, and Einar Enevoldson, leader of the PC-Aero team, which will launch its Elektra One (see “PC-Aero’s Elektra One,” April 11, 2010),...
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Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace Corporation have transformed a 6,000lb power lifting K-MAX helicopter into an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and successfully tested airdropping cargo by parachute to simulate resupplying troops in the field. The test involved cargo airdrops from 300ft-400ft using a four-hook carousel during one flight, demonstrating how the UAV could conduct...
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roboseed.com The culmination of 3.5 years of research has led to controllable monocopter that can autorotate like a maple seed (Acer diabolicum Blume) and fly like a helicopter (hover and forward flight). The vehicle, invented at the University of Maryland, Aerospace Engineering Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory and Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center, is the smallest and...
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NASA’s X-43A (Hyper-X) test vehicle currently holds the record for the fastest aircraft.  Back in November 2004, it achieved a speed close to Mach 10 (12,000km/hr or 7,000mph).  That’s well into the hypersonic range, which starts at Mach 5. For the Air Force and U.S. Armed Forces, it’s highly desirable to develop hypersonic aircraft.  Such designs could offer...
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The US military has apparently lost contact with an experimental hypersonic vehicle over the Pacific Ocean. According to Turner Brinton of Space News, the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV)-2 was the “first in a series of flight experiments” planned to demonstrate technology that could be deployed in future long-range conventional missiles. “...
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An experimental “mini-space shuttle” will blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station tonight. It could fit into a two car garage. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV goes on a test flight tonight. This project has been a classified military secret for over 10 years. “You don’t go to an air...
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Be very wary, but…. Introducing the new line of Multi Mode Vehicles (MMV) from Samson Motorworks. The revolutionary Switchblade™ three-wheeled Flying Motorcycle leads the field as the first of this new vehicle line to meet the growing demand for flying cars and roadable aircraft. The vehicles from Samson Motorworks promise to...
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The Rogallo wing is a flexible type of airfoil. In 1948, Gertrude Rogallo, and her husband Francis Rogallo, a NASA engineer, invented a self-inflating flexible wing they called the Parawing, also known as the Rogallo Wing and flexible wing. NASA considered Rogallo’s flexible wing as an alternative recovery system for the Gemini space...
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If you dream of strapping into a Martin Jetpack and taking to the skies Boba Fett-style but you don’t have a lazy US$86K lying around, there is another option. New Zealand adventure travel specialist Total Experience has teamed up with Martin Aircraft to offer a Jetpack “test pilot” program where anyone who is under 18,...
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Following a series of runway tests late last year the Solar Impulse HB-SIA has taken to the air for the first time in the skies over Payerne, Switzerland. Piloted by Markus Scherdel, the completely solar powered craft reached an altitude of 1,200 meters and executed various maneuvers designed to test control systems and verify...
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PAYERNE, Switzerland — Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard’s team took its round-the-world solar plane prototype into the skies for the first time Wednesday, with four propellers lifting the massive craft off the ground at near bicycle speed. Piccard said the two-hour test flight will examine if the plane, with the wingspan of a Boeing 747 and...
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HILTON HEAD, SC (WCSC) – An experimental single-engine plane crash landed on the beach in the Palmetto Dunes area of Hilton Head Island, killing one person exercising on the beach, according to Hilton Head Fire and Rescue. Both the pilot and his passenger were not injured. A fire and rescue spokesman said the Lancair IV-P...
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A boat that flies. Now there’s a vehicle Phileas Fogg could really have used. Zep’lin is a blue-sky concept developed by industrial designer Damien Grossemy during a five month internship at Renault which imagines the use of solar panel sails and electric propulsion to liberate the yacht-like vehicle from terra firma. Setting out to “explore...
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Moteurs: 2 moteurs de chacun 2 kW couplé à un réducteur à courroie. Batterie: LiPo 45V 64 Ah Autonomy current max: 40 minutes. Envergure: 5,30 m (aile AV et AR identiques) Wing area: 13 m2 Empty weight: 74 kg (battery included!) Take-off weight: 150 kg with Nedo (which weighs 76 kg) Load factor (shown by static test): + / – 3G Wing...
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Commercial space flights for the “masses”?   One website says, “Get ready for your personal journey to the Edge of Space in the Lynx Rocket. Imagine seeing the majestic black sky above and earth’s blue curvature below. This is your chance to be among the first pioneering space adventurers in the world. We have partnered...
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Product Description and Principal Function(s) U-Fly is a single seat entry-level aircraft suitable for pilots up to 1.9m tall and weighing <100kgs. Designed as an exciting alternate sport vehicle, the U-Fly will fly efficiently with safety and will provide an aviation experience outside of the usual sensations offered by the aviation industry. Research by Brymer, (2005) has shown...
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Updated: Two off-duty California Air National Guard members were killed Monday afternoon when an experimental airplane doing acrobatic maneuvers crashed in a remote field east of Highland. The man and a woman on board died instantly when the plane struck the ground shortly before 1 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Neither of the people killed...
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NASA has designed the Puffin one-man experimental plane to show case what can be achieved using electric propulsion. In principle, NASA’s Puffin can cruise at 240 kilometers per hour with a top speed of 480 kph. Due to its electric propulsion it has no flight ceiling and is not limited by thin air which other...
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WAPPINGERS FALLS — A single-engine prop plane skidded off the runway today at the Dutchess County Airport. The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office said they were dispatched to the airport in the Town of Wappinger at 4:46 p.m. The experimental Lancair IV had landed on runway 33. Pilot Allan Scherr of Rhinebeck said he experienced brake failure in...
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A small private airplane crash-landed at East Hampton Airport on December 27 after its pilot forgot to lower the craft’s landing gear while making practice flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot, John F. Cowell, was not hurt in the accident, according to East Hampton Town Police. “He was doing practice runs and he...
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Sanswire-TAO Stratellite segmented airship Sanswire video of its Stratellite segmented airship undergoing flight trails at designer TAO-Technologies in Stuttgart. The segmented design of the non-rigid envelope is designed to make the airship easier to control in gusts than a traditional airship because it “wiggles” through winds. For more details, see www.sanswire.com
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While the world’s attention was tuned to the recent global climate conference inCopenhagen, in an old airplane hangar on a small Swiss airfield, a group of visionaries, dreamers and engineers was busily assembling a vehicle that is their solution to global climate change and the future of commercial aviation. This airplane uses no fossil or...
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Part 1 John Kveps 87 years old – long time RAA member , homebuilder extraordinaire . Ultimate Craftsman has built and repaired many aircraft over the years. At 87 he still takes to the skies and flies like a bird in his Raven. Warning… VERY shaky camera work. Part 2 the flight
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The Goodyear Inflatoplane was an experimental aircraft made by the Goodyear Aircraft Company, a subsidiary of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, well known for the Goodyear blimp. Although it seemed an improbable project, the finished aircraft proved to be capable of meeting its design objectives although its sponsor, the United States Army, ultimately cancelled...
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The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (Curtiss-Wright CW-24), was a 1940s United States prototype fighter aircraft built by Curtiss. Along with the XP-54 and XP-56, it resulted from United States Army Air Corps proposal R-40C issued on 27 November 1939 calling for unconventional aircraft designs. A highly unusual design for its time, it had a canard...
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A  youngster’s dream comes true with a “dad” built mini-plane.  Note the “valid till” date.  I wonder if the young pilot ever flew.. or is still alive?  Dates from March 1938 Modern Mechanix magazine.  The plane is the Flying Flea HM-14
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XueQiang Si, is building a private plane – a Glassair Sportsman 2+2 – and will base his plane in city of Laiwu, in Shandong province. It is claimed that this will be the first experimental category aircraft to fly in the People’s Republic of China. XueQiang Si said, “There is no homebuilt category in...
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Saturday the 6th July was our 4th attempt at flying up to Binalonan in Pangasinan. Our previous efforts had been dogged with weather or plane problems. 3 planes depated Woodland airpark on time at 8 45 am RPS 642 The “little Fokker” with Helmut and Jay RPS 1295 GT 500 with Al ( head Yanker )...
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Last April, an unidentified, jet propelled UAV was spotted operating from the American airbase in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Now there’s a picture. While some have speculated that it is one of the secret American UAV projects, it’s also similar to the French designed nEUROn Demonstrator, a six ton, jet powered combat and reconnaissance UAV. But this aircraft...
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Swift Enterprises has announced Dec. 14 that it will begin large-scale tests of its unleaded, renewable fuel that it hopes to offer as a drop-in replacement for avgas. The Indiana-based company uses biomass such as sorghum and switch grass to produce a high-octane fuel that it says could replace leaded avgas in piston-engine airplanes. The...
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WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP — Len Krenik had to wait a long time to fly. But thanks to him, hundreds of other children haven’t had to. “I’ve wanted to fly ever since I could walk,” says the amateur pilot, who grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota near Le Center, where he watched numerous planes...
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And to think I crack a self-satisfied beer after fixing the lawnmower… Wu Zhongyuan, a 20-year-old farmer from China, cobbled this working helicopter together out of a pile of steel pipe, some Elm wood and a 150cc scooter engine using his high-school physics knowledge and researching the rest on the Web via his mobile...
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Through the fence access for fourteen years and the FAA is now saying it is an incompatible land use. Unlike the Independence Oregon Airport, there has been no support from city officials or the airport manager. View Video:
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A New Effort, This Time in a Plane: Sunday, December 13, 2009 A crowd estimated at more than 250 turned out at the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Regional Airport Saturday for a “candy drop” commemorating the Berlin Airlift at the end of World War II. As kids waited for the plane to take off and pass overhead — dropping chocolate...
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For some of us the holidays mean being stuck in traffic for hours on the way to relatives, or waiting for someone to pick us up at the airport. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could bypass all that hassle, with say, a flying car? Sam Bousfield hears you, and he’s working on it. The Meadow Vista...
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The Flying Flea was designed in 1934 by Henri Mignet. It features an 18 ft. pivoting front wing and 13 ft. fixed, tandem rear wing, and two-axis controls. It was originally powered by low horsepower motorcycle and auto engines. Modern Fleas can utilize a variety of engines including Rotax, Citroen, DAF, etc.  ...
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Private commercial spaceflight inched closer to reality Monday as Virgin Galactic took the wraps off SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Enterprise, during a special unveiling event at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. More than 800 guests and media from around the world were on hand as Virgin Galactic Founder Sir Richard Branson and Scaled...
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Hello Looks great the site. I just put a smal vidio i made of my hombuilt flying flea on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhTkX5WcBUI Flying the hm293 flying flea. Filmed with a go pro camera If jou intrest in more info please let me know. Gretings Holger (Holland) And another…
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Airbus A400M First Flight Ceremony A400M First Flight : Take off and Landing Highlights Maiden Flight The first Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has landed back in Seville, Spain today at 14:02 local time (13:02 UTC) after completing a successful maiden flight lasting 3h 47min following its take-off at 10:15 local time.
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A flyer shares his experiences with the Kitfox 2. Three videos.
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The U.S. Air Force’s recently revealed, stealthy, all-jet RQ-170 remotely piloted aircraft that has flown in Afghanistan has linkages to earlier designs from Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs, including the stealthy DarkStar and Polecat UAVs. The RQ-170 is a tailless flying wing whose upper surfaces have conformal sensor and/or communications pods faired into each side...
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Powered Parachute flight over west desert of Utah. Dry lake beds and flat terrain. Take off and landing. Video by Don Despain of Rekindle Photo. The Pikes Peak Powered Paragliding club got together the Friday after Thanksgiving for a wonderful afternoon of flying. Not sure it exists yet, but… Flying from Davis Airport Building an RV-3 Experimental plane....
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Are you were waiting for a good reason to join the armed forces? Perhaps you are just a kid who always dreamed of flying and never grew up, or maybe you are thinking of challenging Yves (Jetman) Rossy in the human winged flight game? This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Get...
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Or, is your oil injection delivering the right amount of oil? Are you sure? What makes you think you are sure? Recently this question popped into my mind while checking out some other issues on my Rotax 582 and setting up an oil injected Hirth engine I have yet to run. The Hirth distributor told...
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Darrel shares his outfit for winter flying. Long underwear. Gators. Bib. Jacket. Gloves. and a healthy dose of determination! Clothing For Winter Flying from Darrell Mazzoline on Vimeo.
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As a kid, Patrick Mihalek would ride his bike down to the airport at Hyne and Hacker roads in Brighton Township to watch the small airplanes take off and land. He would chat with the pilots who lived around the airport and offered to help them with repairs or oil changes in exchange for a...
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Amy Lang, UA assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, has been given several grants by national foundations for her research in aerodynamics and shark skin. She is trying to find how shark skin can improve aircraft and underwater vehicles. These things are seemingly unrelated, but Lang is researching how the flexible shark scales can...
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A Swiss adventurer named Bertrand Piccard has successfully launched and landed an experimental solar-powered plane. According to Piccard, the low altitude journey proved the prototype Solar Impulse was capable of safely flying – even though it traveled only 350 meters. “With its immense wingspan and low speed it seemed to just hang in the air without...
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Larry Neal talks with EAA Radio’s Digital Dave about the Super Sky Cycle, his roadable gyro cycle that was on display at EAA AirVenture 2009. Listen to the Interview
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Researchers taking part in the Moon-Regan expedition have a new very cool toy. The biofuel-powered Concept Ice Vehicle (CIV), made by Lotus, will be used to cross the coldest contintent, Antarctica, to raise awareness about “how Antarctica’s fate affects the whole environment.” he CIV won’t be making the trip alone, though (duh). There’s simply not...
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“My biggest concern is what happens when I get bored with this.” Veteran BASE diver Phil Smith on the risks of wingsuit jumping from buildings, bridges and cliffs. The interest in “Jetman” and his flights across the English Channel and into the Ocean more recently, inspired us to look for a history of the winged suit....
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“One of the few truly new aircraft since the Wright Brothers” Clive Thompson, New York Times The idea: The aircraft has a cross-flow fan along the span of each wing. The fan pulls the air in at the front and then expels it over the wing’s trailing edge. In transferring...
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