Mon, Jul 14, 2025
"The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec. The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off..."
Source: A portion of the narrative disclosed in the Indian AAIB Preliminary Report about the tragic Air India B787 crash on June 12th.
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Maneuvered In Geosynchronous Orbit, U.S. To Test Soon
China’s space program took a bold step forward as two of its satellites in geosynchronous orbit appeared to dock in what might have been the country’s first attempt at refueling a satellite. Multiple civilian private satellite trackers using open source telescope imaging showed the Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 satellites moving closer together and then merge into a single object.
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Gets Funding For SPRINT Demonstrator Next Steps
Bell Textron announced it has been selected to advance to Phase 2 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane program with funding provided to complete the design, construction, ground testing, and certification of an X-plane demonstrator.
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Tie-In with Cryptocurrency Payment System Trades Digi-Coins for Tickets
Soon, thanks to a preliminary deal between Emirates and Crypto.com, you’ll be able to book your first class ticket with FARTCOIN, a genuinely real digital currency with a $1.1-billion market cap. Since the deal will use existing crypto exchange infrastructure, it can be assumed that anything on the Crypto.com sytems will be accepted, however silly. The Gulf carrier will accept payments for Emirates tickets and offerings using Crypto.com’s payment trading service, opening up a whole wide world of real-life destinations to degenerate digi-gamblers.
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Eurofighter Manufacturing Awaits New Orders, As Skilled Techs Are Assigned Elsewhere
Over in the United Kingdom, tempers flare over BAE Systems’ handling of Eurofighter Typhoon production, with one group calling upon the government to place orders for a 4th tranche of fighters to keep the whole thing afloat. “Workers at BAE and across the whole UK defence and manufacturing industry will be looking at the ending of the Typhoon final assembly production at Warton and asking how a government promising to turn defence spending into ‘British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation’ could let it happen. I have repeatedly told government ministers how much is at risk in terms of jobs, skills, and national security if we stop assembling our own fighter planes. But instead of future planning and ensuring skilled workers are ready to produce the next generation of fighter jets (Global Combat Air Programme, or GCAP), they still seem content to sit on their hands while those skills begin to wither and die."
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Back-and-Forth Between Bureaucrats Beats Back Budgetary Blow
An open letter to the Trump administration was posted in the hopes of supporting one of its first-term projects on the chopping block, bringing together a bevy of space businesses in support of the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). TraCSS was developed by the NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce in the hopes of preventing future satellite collisions, entering into beta testing last fall, but now some think the industry can handle it all on their own...
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Customer Demand Drives Decision To Provide Connectivity Upgrade Option
Textron Aviation announced it has made Starlink available as an upgrade option for the Cessna Citation Sovereign and Sovereign+ models, offering the additional high-speed internet connectivity solution based on customer demand and AeroMech’s STC that was recently approved by the FAA.
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Why Not Improve the Ground Gear While You’re Working on Electric Flight?
Wright Electric, Inc has found another use for their proprietary electric motor tech, creating the Dynamo 30 kW Generator at the behest of the U.S. Air Force. Would it be overkill for some small aircraft operators? Probably, but those that usually drag around a giant trailer cart will see a lot to love here. “We learned that while inverter generators have been rising in popularity in the below-2 kW portable generator market, no one had developed an inverter generator at the 30+ kW level due to the need for a 30 kW 3-phase inverter. However, Wright had developed a 3-phase 30 kW inverter for Dynamo! We realized we had something unique..."
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Safety, ATC Modernization Top Priorities For Both Groups
The Experimental Aircraft Association and the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l issued statements in response to the Senate confirmation of Bryan Bedford to become the next administrator of the FAA.
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Sun, Jul 13, 2025
The Airplane Was Spinning In A Nose-Down Attitude Before It Impacted Terrain
On June 20, 2025, at 0900 eastern daylight time, a Pitts Aerobatics S-2B, N79AV, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Broadway, North Carolina. The private pilot and the commercial pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 aerobatic flight. According to preliminary Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) data, the airplane departed the Raleigh Executive Jetport (TTA), Sanford, North Carolina, at 0853. Immediately after departure, the airplane made a left turn to the southwest, followed by a left turn to head southeast. The airplane continued to climb until it reached an altitude of about 4,100 ft mean sea level (msl), and the airplane then turned toward the east.
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