Also: Beijing Declines Boeing, Bell Textron Canada, Kent Pietsch, 737 Dive Site

Sealand Aviation anticipates the first flight of their modified DHC-2 Beaver shortly. One of their De Havilland Beavers has been outfitted with the RED A03 engine developed by RED Aircraft in Germany. The RED A03 is now undergoing checks and calibration and has already been fixed to the airframe. The next steps include the aircraft undergoing further maintenance such as custom-made cowling and the installation of the Full Authority Digital Engine Control. Autel Robotics announced their newest evolution in the Evo Drone series with the Evo Lite and Evo Nano. The carbon-legge

Also: Warbirds Educational Program, KLM Flight Academy, Collegiate Connect Day, Skywest Partners with Skyborne

A bipartisan amendment, introduced by Representative Sam Graves (R-MO) and Representative Kai Kahele (D-HI), that would reverse the FAA’s recent policy on flight training has been accepted into the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The amendment, which encompasses the Certainty for General Aviation Pilots Act of 2021, would negate the FAA’s recent policy that requires virtually all training in experimental, limited, and primary categories to be conducted under a letter of deviation authority (LODA) or

Long Endurance Vertical Takeoff and Landing UAS Expands Its Mission Profile

Heath Niemi, Martin UAV VP of Business Development, describes the continued development of their V-BAT 128 long endurance Vertical Takeoff and Landing UAS. This year has been full of progress for the system, with duty use alongside customers in maritime environments and shipborne use with the Marine Corps. The first deployment with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit prompted more development targets in increased payload and endurance. Engine improvements resulted in a number of improvements: the payload leapt from 8 to 25 lbs, and endurance from 8 to

Development on Vanilla Unmanned Continues

A final flight time of 8 days, 50 minutes, and 47 seconds covering 12,200 miles of continuous flight was achieved when the Vanilla Unmanned prototype ISR UAS touched down October 2. It created the newest world record for unrefueled, internal combustion endurance of an unmanned aircraft. “We are extremely proud of Platform Aerospace’s historic achievement,” said Lt. Col. Adam Brooks, Emerging Technologies Combined Test Force (ET-CTF) Director. “While the world record is exciting in and of itself, it is more important that we realize what this endurance ability means for our Joint Services who need persistent ISR capabilities immediately.”

Aids Rock Valley College Career Pathway Program

In an effort to grow the necessary talent for Aviation’s ever-growing maintenance demands, Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois will soon offer a fellowship program for students building their careers. Partnering with AAR, they created the fellowship to offer a cash award, to be granted to ten students and recipients who work a minimum of two years with AAR. The funds can be used to cover the costs of tuition, fees, materials, and are annually renewable for those students in good standing. 

Finally, Cloud Services For the Flight Deck

Honeywell has released its new Anthem flight deck, a modern, cloud-connected flight deck system that channels the intuitive interfaces of everyday smartphones. Closer to the small devices than traditional glass-panel avionics, Anthem features an always-on connection and touchscreen. Eschewing the usual connections for updates allows for seamlessly updated maps, unified consumable status tracking, and flight plan transfer. The new flight deck is suitable for every type of aircraft from large passenger planes to general aviation craft, and, as the segment expands, air mobility vehicles. 

Klyde Notes A Few Poignant Realities About The Afghanistan Mess

FMI: www.klydemorris.com

Russian Actress Films Movie in Space

The Soyuz spacecraft met with the International Space Station on October 5, bringing its 3 crew members to the 7 already aboard for Expedition 65. An unusual mission for the Soyuz crew, as they brought with them Russian actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko for their first space flights under a collaboration between Roscosmos and Moscow media companies. They will be filming segments for their upcoming movie, “The Challenge” a docudrama about a cosmonaut who loses consciousness in space and requires heart surgery in zero gravity. Peresild won the coveted position as the actress-turned-cosmonaut in May when she was cast as the heart surgeon. Her training program was accelerated into f

PLAY Pilots at London A320 Centre

PLAY Airlines, the new low-cost carrier operating flights between Iceland and Europe. They have selected L3Harris for their training needs, using the suite of Airbus A320 simulators at its London Training Centre. The airline’s fleet consists of 3 Airbus A321 NEO’s leased from AerCap, with more to come. Future fleet expansions will include Airbus 320’s, an A321NX narrowbody with additional leases from GECAS to be delivered between fall 2022 and spring 2023. Play serves 10 locations across 7 countries in Europe and intends to begin North American operations by spring 2022. Young and hungry, the company completed its first operational month in August and has continued to gro

Public Invited for Race, Demos at Buena Vista Drone Spot

The Central Colorado UAS Club has announced the 9th Roundup conference set for October 17 at the Buena Vista Drone Flying Park (DFP), open to the public and completely free. Demonstrations of many different drones will include club partners Wingtra, the Multicopter Warehouse, Chaffee County Search & Rescue teams, and more to come. The park will also host its first sanctioned MultiGP drone race, presented by Full Send FPV in Denver. Weather permitting, demonstrations are planned to begin at noon and continue to 15:00, with special announcements and presentations planned for 14:00 hrs. 

Also: Beijing Declines Boeing, Bell Textron Canada, Kent Pietsch, 737 Dive Site

Sealand Aviation anticipates the first flight of their modified DHC-2 Beaver shortly. One of their De Havilland Beavers has been outfitted with the RED A03 engine developed by RED Aircraft in Germany. The RED A03 is now undergoing checks and calibration and has already been fixed to the airframe. The next steps include the aircraft undergoing further maintenance such as custom-made cowling and the installation of the Full Authority Digital Engine Control. Autel Robotics announced their newest evolution in the Evo Drone series with the Evo Lite and Evo Nano. The carbon-legge

While Inverted, The Airplane Entered Another Flat Spin And Did Not Recover

On September 17, 2021, about 0800 central daylight time (CDT), a Boeing A75 airplane, N19BB, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Delta, Colorado. The commercial pilot sustained fatal injuries. The personal local flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Federal Code of Regulations Part 91. The airplane took off from runway 3 at Blake Field Airport (AJZ), Delta, Colorado. Two witnesses observed the airplane climb out and begin aerobatic maneuvers about 5 miles to the northeast of AJZ. Both witnesses stated that the airplane began a loop maneuver, and at the top of the loop while inverted, the airplane entered a flat spin. They observed the airp

Aero Linx: The U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine The U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine is an internationally renowned center for aerospace medical learning, consultation, aerospace medical investigations and aircrew health assessments. We promote readiness and protect force and community health by using a range of tools and expertise including environmental and health surveillance, laboratory and risk analysis, process re-engineering, consultation and technological innovation to maximize operational health capabilities and to solve problems through ingenuity and partnerships. We train approximately 6,000 students each year. 

Weather Reconnaissance Area (WRA) A WRA is airspace with defined dimensions and published by Notice to Airmen, which is established to support weather reconnaissance/research flights. Air traffic control services are not provided within WRAs. Only participating weather reconnaissance/research aircraft from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Aircraft Operations Center are permitted to operate within a WRA. A WRA may only be established in airspace within U.S. Flight Information Regions outside of U.S. territorial airspace.

“The word hard does not come close to describing how it is.” Source: Part of Russian actress Yulia Peresild's description of the training programs that led her to where she is now... on board the ISS, preparing to film the first commercial movie shots abord the ISS. Her training program was accelerated into four months as she trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre alongside backup crews. The curriculum was likely pared down to the essentials, focusing on Soyuz launch, docking, landing, while dealing with emergent situations. Relatively taciturn in comparison to western training programs, the spaceflight participants were barred from formal interviews, with brief social media postings revealing the difficulty