The Shape of Things to Come

On 3 October 2022, Wisk unveiled its sixth-generation eVTOL to considerable fanfare. Speaking at the event, CEO Gary Gysin asserted:  “In 2010, we set out to find a way to skip traffic and get to our destination faster. That inspiration evolved into a mission to deliver safe, everyday flight for everyone. Over the past 12 years, we’ve pursued that mission through the development of five different generations of full-scale aircraft. Our 6th Generation aircraft is the culmination of years of hard work from our industry-leading team, learnings from our previous generations of aircraft, commitment from our investors, and the evolution and advancement of technology.”

Space Bound and Down

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission has been greenlit. Liftoff is slated for noon EDT on Wednesday, 5 October from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. Endurance will carry two NASA astronauts—Mission Commander Nicole Aunapu Mann and Pilot Josh Cassada—along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who will serve as mission specialists, to the International Space Station.

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On 12 August 2022, a hard clutch engagement forced an AFSOC (U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command) CV-22 Osprey crew to make an emergency landing in a nature preserve on the Norwegian island of Senja. Onsite repairs to the downed aircraft were deemed impossible, and Norwegian authorities—citing the delicacy of the Stongodden nature preserve’s bucolic terrain—balked at the notion of a conventional salvage operation. Lilium has announced that its Phoenix II eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft achieved its first full transition from vertical, thrust-powered flight to horizontal, wing-borne, aerodynamic flight. This was accomplished during a 23 September test-flight. The company currently holds provisional sales agreements for 483 aircraft. The pilot shortage may see a small respite of sorts, as statisticians dig into FAA number

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At approximately 21:30 EDT on the night of 27 September 2022, as the southeastern U.S. braced for Hurricane Ian’s landfall, a separate storm—believed to have been a tornado—struck the city of Pembroke Pines in southeastern Florida’s Broward County. Damage caused by the storm, though widespread, was particularly heavy at North Perry Airport (HWO), where some 15 aircraft were overturned and otherwise battered about. The U.S. National Aerobatic Championships will return to Salina, Kansas in October 2022. The 2022 U.S. National Aerobatic Championships will see pilots of both powered aircraft and gliders compete in five categories: Primary, Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced, and Unlimited. ANN expects to have to offer up more than a few announcements like this one as the state of Florida dries out and shakes out after the indi

A Cub in a Bear Market

CubCrafters, Inc. (often styled CubCrafters), the Yakima, WA-based manufacturer of kit airplanes patterned after Piper’s iconic PA-18 Super Cub, has announced that for the first time in its forty-year history, it intends to allow new public investment in the company under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulation-A.

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Lilium has announced that its Phoenix II eVTOL technology demonstrator aircraft achieved its first full transition from vertical, thrust-powered flight to horizontal, wing-borne, aerodynamic flight. This was accomplished during a 23 September test-flight. The company currently holds provisional sales agreements for 483 aircraft. DJI has introduced its new DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise Series. The DJI Mavic 3E and DJI Mavic 3T are reportedly the most comprehensive improvement to the world’s compact drone offerings in three years. The two new Mavic 3 Enterprise drones are based on DJI’s prosumer Mavic 3 series. The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences has partnered with Wingcopter—the German maker of eVTOL delivery-drones—to test the logistics, economics, and general feasibility of delivering consumer-goods to rural residents via a system comprising Win

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The pilot shortage may see a small respite of sorts, as statisticians dig into FAA numbers to see that 9,087 freshly certificated commercial airline pilots have been minted in the last 12 months, besting 2019 numbers by nearly 2,500 pilots. The AirLine Pilot’s Association is happy to see the improvement, as Captain Joe DePete announced at the Association’s annual Air Safety Forum. Wright State University and First Flight Aviation will be teaming up to offer flight training near the birthplace of aviation itself in Huffman Prairie, Ohio. The trustees of Wright State University have passed a resolution approving the provision of pilot training classes in the course catalog, allowing enrolled students to take them as electives. The United States’ Air National Guard’s 1st Lieutenant Klsey Flannery took to th

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Plans are moving forward to begin year-round programming at a new facility, the EAA Education Center, that opened in July adjacent to the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh. The Pilot Proficiency Center area hosted numerous full-capacity sessions during AirVenture week that featured clinics that incorporated flight simulators in scenarios that ranged from mountain flying techniques to emergency flight procedures. A very fortunate Commercial pilot and CFI has earned a $2,500 award. Mike Petrucci has been enamored with aviation from a very early age. His father would take him to airshows and help foster his passion for flight. A close family friend, who was a pilot and operated a charter business, further encouraged his interest in aviation. The U.S. National Aerobatic Championships will return to Salina, Kansas in October 2022. The 2022 U.S. National Aerobatic

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Following years of intensive development and choruses of naysaying, Alice, the all-electric, nine-passenger commuter aircraft designed and built by Eviation, has made its inaugural flight. The nine minute undertaking saw the unconventional machine liftoff at approximately 07:10 PDT from Grant County International Airport (MWH) in Moses Lake, Washington. Test pilot Steve Crane urged Alice to an altitude of 3,500-feet and made several passes over the airport vicinity before bringing the sleek, low-wing aircraft to safe landing. Prince Albert II, of Monaco, has announced first details of the World Sky Race—a race around the world by airships (blimps, dirigibles, and zeppelins). Winner's prize: $5 million. Explorers Club member Prince Albert, Google co-founder Serge Brin, and Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson are all among the world figures who now see air

Bureaucracy and the Conflation of One Hour with Meaningful Change

The FAA has issued a final rule requiring that flight attendants receive longer periods of rest between crew-assignments. The new rule increases the inter-duty-day rest period from nine to ten consecutive hours. The measure also fulfills the requirements of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, by which the agency was directed to increase the minimum rest period for flight attendants with scheduled duty days of 14 hours or less, and eliminate a provision that permitted rest to be reduced under certain circumstances.