Manufacturer Expects to Bring in 1,200 New Planes as Travel Demand Rises

Boeing is gearing up for a major jump in African air travel over the next two decades, estimating that passenger traffic across the continent will grow by an average of six percent annually through 2044. As a result, it plans to more than double its fleet on the continent by bringing in over 1,200 planes.

Also: USAF Reaper Accident, Baikonur Damage, Horizon eVTOL IFR/FIKI, New Glenn Update

Honda has outlined its clearest timeline yet for its entry into the world of electric vertical-lift, confirming that its first full-scale eVTOL prototype will be finished by the end of 2025. The inaugural flight is slated for March 2026, marking the company’s transition from years of under-the-radar development to a much more public testing phase. Arctus Aerospace announced it raised $2.6 million from Version One Ventures, South Park Commons, gradCapital, and several angel investors in a pre-seed round to accelerate the development of its large, unmanned aircraft intended to fly at 45,000 feet for up to 24 hours. Arctus said the funding will be deployed to establish one of the deepest full-stack unmanned aircraft manufacturing and engineering capabilities that will be built entirely in-house. Sam Bousfield, CEO of Samson Sky, has been granted his eigh

Third-Edition Resource Guide is Getting Ready… But It’s Waiting on You

The third edition of the SportPlane Resource Guide—soon to launch as the expanded, fully digital eSPRG—is almost ready for release. The layout is there, dozens of instructional chapters are written, and hundreds of aircraft write-ups are complete. This edition will be bigger, more detailed, and easier to update than the previous 1,100-page print version (probably settling in at more than 2000 pages!), with the potential to far exceed even our own anticipations with S-LSA, E-LSA, ultralights, avionics, and accessories. The only major thing slowing it down is one simple piece: more data from manufacturers.

Dozens of Companies Unveiled Innovative Products Ahead of the 51st SnF Aerospace Expo

Kicking off the 51st SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo, we hosted the second annual SnF Innovation Preview to give more than 20 companies just enough time in the spotlight to debut their new planes, products, engines, accessories, and more… In other words… it was a LOT of news, and it’s all still up for your viewing pleasure.

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): An Eagle by Any Other Name

Originally developed as the Yuma by Alisport, an Italian aircraft manufacturer based in the Northern Italian city of Cremella, the Aquilae (ACK-will-lay) is a kit-built, STOL-capable, Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) distributed in the U.S. by Kent, Illinois-based North American Eagle. Aquilae is the Latin term for Eagle. As implied by its eligibility for certification as an LSA, the Aquilae’s maximum gross weight is 1,320-pounds. The aircraft is powered by a one-hundred-horsepower normally-aspirated, carbureted, four-cylinder, four-stroke, liquid-and-air-cooled, Rotax 912 ULS engine.

After Draining Both Wing Fuel Tanks, A Significant Amount Of Water Was Observed In The Right Wing Fuel Tank

Analysis: The pilot, who was also the owner of the experimental amateur-built airplane’s kit manufacturer, was performing a demonstration flight for potential buyers. The pilot reported that after fueling the airplane, a preflight inspection was performed and no anomalies were found; however, he stated that he did not sump the fuel tanks or the low-point drains. The pilot stated that after performing the engine runup and allowing the engine to reach operating temperatures, he performed a normal take off. At around 300 ft above ground level, the pilot reported that the engine began to “cut out,” and the pilot pulled the throttle bringing the engine to idle.

With The eSPRG Only Weeks Away From Its Start Date, A-AF Will Help To Support Sport Flyers, Worldwide

With the all-new and all-digital SportPlane Resource Guide getting ready for publication early next year, the Aero-News Network is pleased to announce yet another addition to the Airborne video news programming roster… Airborne-Affordable Flyers. Dedicated to keeping people up-to-date on the most affordable aspects of sport and general aviation, Airborne-Affordable Flyers is one of our most exciting offerings yet. A-AF will delve into more than just the current LSA community, but look at all aspects of aviation to examine and evaluate the most enjoyable, and most affordable, solutions to flying, operating, and owning aircraft in the 21st century.

We’re Hiring Editors, Developers, Video Journalists, Oh My!

Yes, despite the last few years being one of the most unpredictable stretches in aviation media we can remember, ANN is still standing… and somehow, still expanding. The pandemic didn’t exactly make life easy, but we’ve come through it with enough energy to tackle our next round of projects. Fortunately for you, they are already stacking up faster than we can keep up with. Moving forward, we’ll be ramping up efforts on an expanded “Airborne Unlimited,” launching the third version of the SportPlane Resource Guide in a digital format, rolling out coverage for all the greatest airshows, and diving into new Aero-Reality programming and book projects. We’ve got the plans; now we need the people.

SportPlane Resource Guide (NG) Volume 3 is Bigger, Bolder, and a Whole Lot Easier to Carry

The SportPlane Resource Guide has, like many old kit builds, been collecting dust for years. Over the next year, the book is finally getting a third edition…and this time, it's going digital -- uit HAS to... its simply too big to carry around. Aero-News Network is well on its way to debuting the new e-book with a renewed focus on affordable, entry-level flying machines. The last edition clocked in at nearly 1,100 pages and featured more than 800 sport aircraft from around the world. This new ‘eSPRG’ is expected to blow past that, with over 2000 pages of specs, analysis, and directories.

And That's But One Of Over A Dozen Major Developments Planned For The Next Year Or So

Aero-News Network is now available on Roku and Amazon FireTV! That’s right folks. You can now get your daily dose of aviation news… right on the ol' giggle box! This is an EPIC development for our network, one of many to come, and we’re thrilled to offer you this new way to watch our news programming. Whether you’re a traditional website reader, podcast listener, or YouTube subscriber, we’re dedicated to giving you quality, honest, aviation news that you can trust and broadening our reach and audience aggressively in the coming years, so that we may both Grow and Inform the aviation and aerospace world.