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September 02, 2020

Amazon Prime Air Awarded Part 135 Cert

The Days Of The Old 'Freight Dogs' Are Increasingly Past-Tense

If you thought that you saw too many Prime trucks around the highways and byways of America, it may be time to look skyward. Amazing Prime Air has been granted a Part 135 ticket ("Part 135 air carrier certificate using unmanned aircraft systems") to start trial operations of drone deliveries... something that has been on their drawing board for years. this allows Amazon to join the ranks of UPS and Alphabet-owned Wing, who have already pioneered some limited FAA approval for their drone delivery aspirations. Amazon describes their program as, "...a future delivery system from Amazon designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles, also

Also: Multi-Lingual Drone Program, Vue TZ20, 1st Agility Prime 'Flying Car', KSU Polytechnic

If you thought that you saw too many Prime trucks around the highways and byways of America, it may be time to look skyward. Amazing Prime Air has been granted a Part 135 ticket ("Part 135 air carrier certificate using unmanned aircraft systems") to start trial operations of drone deliveries... something that has been on their drawing board for years. this allows Amazon to join the ranks of UPS and Alphabet-owned Wing, who have already pioneered some limited FAA approval for their drone delivery aspirations. Reliable Robotics has reportedly achieved successful test flights of remote-piloted passenger airplanes in United States airspace. In the first flight, the pilot pressed a

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Pipistrel Gets Serious About Nuuva Series Of Cargo eVTOL Aircraft

Large Cargo Compartment Accepts Up To 3 Euro-Pallets (EPAL) On V300

Pipistrel's Nuuva V300 is a long-range large-capacity heavy-weight autonomous eVTOL UAV. As smaller Nuuva V20 provides options for last-mile delivery missions. The Nuuva V300 is envisioned as Pipistrel's flagship model of the Nuuva series of UAVs. The highly customizable autonomous aircraft can carry up to 460 kg, is economical to operate, and offers the efficiency and reliability of electric powertrains. Entry into service is planned for the second half of 2023. Currently, cargo is delivered to many locations around the world with helicopters, which are excellent for hovering but much less efficient in cruise flight. Their complex flight mechanics increases the cost of operation.

Review Gives The Stamp Of Approval To The Entire Spacecraft Development Effort

While the naysayers continue to opine that NASA can not make it back to the Moon in the timeframe previously targeted... progress IS being made. NASA’s Orion Program has completed the System Acceptance Review and Design Certification Review to certify the Artemis I spacecraft is fit for flight, ready to venture from Earth to the lunar vicinity, and return home for landing and recovery. The review examined every spacecraft system, all test data, inspection reports, and analyses that support verification, to ensure every aspect of the spacecraft has the right technical maturity.

From 2010: There's More Than One Way To Turn A Rotor!

It was a site -- and sound to see/hear... Avimech Aircraft's Dragonfly, at first glance, looks like a bare bones single place helicopter. Then you look at the rotor blade tips and realize there is something different. The tips have small rocket nozzles on them! In fact this helicopter has no conventional engine! The tips are propelled by the rotor rocket nozzles, eliminating the need for a gearbox and conventional powerplant. The Dragonfly is lightweight at 220 lbs and can carry payloads of up to 800 lbs. Dragonfly's two fuel tanks

Special Operations Command Takes First MH-47G Block Ii Chinook On Time

Boeing celebrated the delivery of the first MH-47G Block II Chinook with a ceremony at the Chinook factory in Philadelphia. The company is delivering new technologies and performance improvements to US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) with the Block II Chinook helicopter. Boeing’s Philadelphia team recently delivered the first MH-47G Block II Chinook to SOCOM on time. “This delivery marks a major step for the Chinook program,” said Andy Builta, vice president and H-47 program manager. “The new Chinook will give U.S. Special Operations Forces significantly more capability for extremely challenging missions and will enable them to conduct those missions

IS&S Offers Certified Eclipse Synthetic Vision and Autothrottle Upgrade Kit

IS&S's First Upgrade Directly To Eclipse Owners

The FAA has certified Innovative Solutions & Support’s Synthetic Vision (SVS) installation and Autothrottle Upgrade for the Eclipse Jet, applicable to aircraft with software versions 2.7.8 and 2.7.10. This installation marks IS&S's first upgrade directly to Eclipse owners and involves substantial pre-orders. Eclipse owners now have the benefit of a significant avionics equipment upgrade and ongoing product support directly from their partnership with IS&S.

NASA Will Announce Selections Later This Fall

NASA is looking for leaders for what they call 'one of the best jobs on Earth' for human spaceflight – including missions to the Moon – the position of flight director in mission control at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA will accept applications for new flight directors Thursday, Sept. 3, through Thursday, Sept. 10. U.S. citizens can apply at: www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/577699400. Those chosen as NASA flight directors will lead human spaceflight missions to the International Space Station, as American astronauts once again

Full Flight Simulator Level D Available In Frankfurt

A new Level D Airbus H145/135 full-flight simulator has joined the existing training fleet at the Lufthansa Aviation Training, Frankfurt location. The Full Flight Simulator (FFS) of the Airbus H145/135 is the most modern helicopter simulator on the market worldwide, which was manufactured by Reiser Simulation and Training. It is certified by the EASA as Level D. The FFS is capable of displaying numerous realistic landing scenarios with moving objects in the landing area or at different locations. These include, for example, scenarios at airports, hospitals, landings on ships or oil platforms or in confined terrain. Thanks to the high resolution of the visuals and the additional possibility to de

Heard "A Swish Of Air Enter The Cabin" Followed By A Flash Of Fire

On August 14, 2020, about 1718 eastern daylight time, a Lake LA4, N2994P, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45) West Palm Beach, Florida. One pilot/owner received minor injuries and another pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to the pilot/airplane owner, they departed F45 for a local flight. After about 1 hour and 20-minute flight, they returned to F45. During the landing rolling out on the runway the pilot opened the airplane's gull-wing door and instantly heard "a swish of air enter the cabin" followed by a fla

Aero Linx: Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation Founded in 1988 and based in New Jersey, the foundation obtained and restored a Douglas C-54, one of 330 that carried out the airlift, to flying condition. The foundation painted the airplane in a scheme similar to that of the 48th Troop Carrier Squadron, one of the groups that participated in the event. Artifacts, displays and information explaining this history-making event fill the interior of the flying museum. Tim Chopp, founder and president of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation, spent four years looking for the right airplane for a living history educational museum exhibit about the great Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. The foundation bought the

Convective SIGMET A weather advisory concerning convective weather significant to the safety of all aircraft. Convective SIGMETs are issued for tornadoes, lines of thunderstorms, embedded thunderstorms of any intensity level, areas of thunderstorms greater than or equal to VIP level 4 with an area coverage of 4/10 (40%) or more, and hail 3/4 inch or greater.

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (09.02.20)

“NASA flight directors need a unique mixture of confidence and humility, innovation and organization. The situations you have to deal with are occasionally very tough, and the stakes are always very high. But if you are able to handle that responsibility, there is nothing like knowing that you played a key role in the historic work that NASA does on a day-to-day basis.” Source: Holly Ridings, chief flight director at Johnson Space Center, describing what NASA is looking for in new leaders, for what they call 'one of the best jobs on Earth' for human spaceflight – including missions to the Moon – the position of flight director in mission control at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.