Coming Home to Roost

In the late 1960s, for purpose of contemporaneously meeting demand and controlling production costs, Britten-Norman moved its manufacturing operations from the U.K. to Romania. In an ironic reversal of fortune, the company, in June 2023, announced aircraft production would return to Britten-Norman’s historic digs in the village of Bembridge on the U.K.’s Isle of Wight.

Rise of the Cyclorotor

In late-September 2023, CycloTech released video footage of the first flight of the company’s Bumblebee 2.0 concept aircraft. The flight, which had taken place a month prior, showcased the machine’s unusual configuration, which features four CR42 cyclorotors and an advanced flight-control system. The commencement of the Bumblebee 2.0 platform’s flight-testing campaign speaks to the ongoing evolution of CycloTech’s unique aero-propulsion scheme.

Unique Aircraft Considered for Statewide Emergency Response

Jump Aero, a California-based developer and manufacturer of novel aerospace solutions, and the Utah Department of Transportation-Division of Aeronautics have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) setting forth the two entities’ agreement to collaboratively examine the viability of providing flight-based first-responder operations across the whole of the Beehive State by dint of Jump Aero’s JA1 Pulse eVTOL aircraft.

Victim Evacuated from Ship Off Alabama’s Dauphin Island

On Monday, 02 October 2023, personnel of the United States Coast Guard medivaced a fifty-year-old man from a 302-foot vessel then located approximately eighty-statute-miles offshore of Alabama’s Dauphin Island. Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received a call at approximately 14:17 EDT from the captain of the vessel, who requested medical-evacuation of a crew-member experiencing possible cardiac symptoms.

Autumn in France

VoltAero, the French aerospace company founded by former Airbus chief technical officer Didier Esteyne, has broken ground on a final-assembly line on the Rochefort Charente-Maritime Airport (LRH) in France’s southwestern Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The 7,874-square-foot facility will serve as the build-up site and delivery center for VoltAero’s inchoate line of Cassio general aviation regional aircraft, and will house the contraption’s final-assembly line, a workshop, a logistics area, and design/engineering offices. Operated at full-capacity, VoltAero anticipates the LRH installation will produce approximately 150 Cassio family aircraft annually. Moreover, the structure’s layout allows for future expansion

Fleet Renewal and Standardization Underway at UAL

In furtherance of the United Next fleet renewal and standardization initiative, Chicago-based United Airlines has placed an order for sixty additional Airbus A321neo aircraft. United previously ordered fifty A321XLR and seventy A321neo narrow-body jets. The addition of the newly-announced A321neo order brings United’s direct purchase commitment from Airbus to a total of 180 A321-family aircraft.

Freedom and Unity

Air Tanzania—the Dar es Salam-based flag-carrier of the Southeast African nation of Tanzania—has taken delivery of its first 737-MAX-family aircraft. In keeping with the air-carrier’s aspiration to meet the growing demand for air-travel throughout Africa and India, Air Tanzania is the first African airline to take delivery of a specimen of the 737 MAX-9 narrow-body aircraft.

Roll Reversal

The NTSB has released its preliminary report on a 09 September 2023 accident in which a Champion 7KCAB Citabria, registration N998B, was substantially damaged shortly after departing Arizona’s Benson Municipal Airport (E95). The aircraft’s two occupants—a flight-instructor and a student-pilot receiving instruction—escaped injury. The accident-aircraft was operated as an instructional flight under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations.

Awardees to be Honored at NBAA-BACE 2023

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has made public the names of its Flying Safety Award recipients for the period ending 31 December 2022. More than one-hundred companies and flight departments were recognized for accident-free flying. The NBAA’s Flying Safety Awards evince and celebrate the high degrees of professionalism and evolved safety cultures characteristic of the Association’s member organizations.

From 2010 (YouTube Version): Museum President Details Exhibits Featuring Women’s Aviation Accomplishments

On November 2nd, 1929, 117 American female pilots gathered at Curtiss Field in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York; their goal was simple: to create an organization dedicated to the advancement of aviation. Three years later, Amelia Earhart became the first president of the “Ninety-Nines, Inc.,” named for the 99 charter members of the first organization composed entirely of licensed female pilots.  Today, the Ninety-Nines has over 5,500 members throughout the world. In 1976, as charter members slowly passed

Aero Linx: Vintage Sailplane Association The purpose of the Vintage Sailplane Association (VSA) is to promote the acquisition, restoration and flying of vintage sailplanes by its members, and to assist the National Soaring Museum in the preservation of soaring history and the promotion of vintage sailplane activity.

Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) The frequency band between 300 and 3,000 MHz. The bank of radio frequencies used for military air/ground voice communications. In some instances this may go as low as 225 MHz and still be referred to as UHF. 

“We are immensely proud to bring production back to the U.K., where our manufacturing story began nearly seven-decades ago. This move underlines our dedication to the highest standards of quality, innovation, and the resurgence of British aerospace manufacturing.”    Source: Britten-Norman CEO William Hynett, chatting about how the company, in June 2023, announced aircraft production would return to Britten-Norman’s historic digs in the village of Bembridge on the U.K.’s Isle of Wight.