Kittinger Cup Winners Announced

A five-cadet team from the Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP’s) Wisconsin Wing’s Stevens Point Composite Squadron has taken first-place honors in the third-annual Civil Air Patrol High-Altitude Balloon Challenge. The winning team received 2023’s Kittinger Cup and an accompanying $5,000 prize for an experiment germane to cold welding in Low Earth orbit (LEO). The Kittinger Cup and the $5,000 prize were provided by Sherry Kittinger, wife of the late U.S. Air Force Colonel, high-altitude researcher, and skydiving luminary Joe Kittinger.

Unleashed in the East—More or Less

EHang Holdings Limited, a Guangzhou-based Chinese developer of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAV), maintains progress is being made on the certification of the company’s EH216-S, a proprietary passenger-carrying Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform. EHang is working in cooperation with the Southern Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to secure a Production Certificate (PC) for the machine. Notably, the majority of the requisite documentation reviews, definitions, and practical assessments germane to the issuance of the vehicle’s PC have been completed. Following CAAC’s issuance of the sought-after PC, EHang will commence production of its inaugural

AEA's Ric Peri Goes Into Detail On Where MOSAIC Is... And Is Likely To Go

ANN knows of NO ONE who is as 'on top' of all things regulatory as AEA's Ric Peri... And by chance, we ran into Ric and some of the AEA gang at NBAA 2023 and corralled him into explaining the modus operandi for their request (along with other organizations) for an extension of the proposed Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rule. The request got a few folks a little hot under the collar thinking that the extension would cause extensive delays in the publication of the final rule. However; Peri seems to think that delays will be minimal, but more

Soft Demand and Maintenance Woes Occasion Hardship

Spirit Airlines, the Miramar, Florida-headquartered U.S. ultra-low cost airline, will suspend new pilot and flight attendant training in November 2023 “until further notice;” so stated a memo disseminated throughout the company. The move evinces slower growth and softer demand than the company’s management anticipated and has occasioned the grounding of dozens of Airbus  A320neo family aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines. Spirit formerly slowed hiring and captain upgrades.

Flight Supports NASA’s GUSTO Balloon Mission

On 28 October 2023, following a grueling journey undertaken for purpose of delivering NASA’s Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO), the space agency’s C-130 Hercules touched down safely at McMurdo Station on the southern tip of Antarctica’s Ross Island. A United States research station, McMurdo is operated by the National Science Foundation and hosts NASA’s Antarctic long-duration balloon campaign, via which the GUSTO mission will take a scientific balloon flight beginning December 2023.

Devil’s Due

The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron has arrived in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility—namely, the Middle East—with an additional F-16 Fighting Falcon squadron, thereby bolstering U.S. presence in the region and deterring further jihadist aggression. The Atlantic City-based squadron, known colloquially as the Jersey Devils, now aligned under 9th Air Force, afford coalition leaders added flexibility vis-à-vis air operations throughout the Middle East, including contingency response capabilities and deterrence missions, while maintaining Operation Inherent Resolve’s stated Defeat-ISIS mission.

Also: Archer in UAE, EPA Endangerment Finding, Supernal, European Alliance for Zero-Emission Av

Korean pilot MinChan Kim, 19, emerged as the overall winner of the 2023 FAI World Drone Racing Championship. Coming in a close second was Japanese pilot Yuki Hashimoto, 16, who displayed remarkable speed and agility throughout the championship. Completing the top three was Victor Jonsson, 31, from Denmark, whose consistent and calculated flying secured him a spot on the podium. SpaceX vice-president for build and reliability William Gerstenmaier has urged lawmakers to streamline extant regulations for purpose of increasing the number of FAA pers

Also: Archer in UAE, EPA Endangerment Finding, Supernal, European Alliance for Zero-Emission Av

Korean pilot MinChan Kim, 19, emerged as the overall winner of the 2023 FAI World Drone Racing Championship. Coming in a close second was Japanese pilot Yuki Hashimoto, 16, who displayed remarkable speed and agility throughout the championship. Completing the top three was Victor Jonsson, 31, from Denmark, whose consistent and calculated flying secured him a spot on the podium. SpaceX vice-president for build and reliability William Gerstenmaier has urged lawmakers to streamline extant regulations for purpose of increasing the number of FAA pers

Airline to Retrofit 400+ 717s with Hughes In-Flight Connectivity

Hughes Network Systems, LLC, a provider of broadband equipment and services, and Delta Air Lines have entered into an agreement by which the Atlanta, Georgia-based legacy air-carrier will outfit upwards of four-hundred of its Boeing 717 narrow-body airliners with Hughes’s In-Flight connectivity solution.

Also: Michael Whitaker Nom, ATI Pilots, “Galactic 05” Research Mission, flyExclusive Buys CJ3 Gen2

Japan Airlines recently found itself uncomfortably middled between national pride and the immutable principles of physics. JAL was recently forced to add an extra domestic flight for purpose of accommodating a sizable group of sumo wrestlers traveling to attend the Special National Sports Festival on Amami Oshima Island in Japan’s southern Kagoshima Prefecture. Zenith Aircraft Company is returning to central Florida on 01 and 02 December 2023 for purpose of hosting its popular hands-on kit aircraft building workshop. Subject

Witness Reported Observing The Accident Gyroplane Fly Directly Into Powerlines, Flip Upside Down, And Fall Inverted Into The River

On October 8, 2023, about 1640 central daylight time, an experimental Gyro Technic GT-VX2 gyroplane, N557LJ, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Saint Peter, Minnesota. The pilot was fatally injured. The gyroplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot departed from Mankato Regional Airport (MKT), Mankato, Minnesota, about 1400 as a flight of two gyroplanes. After the departure from MKT, the two gyroplanes continued to Le Sueur Municipal Airport (12Y), Le Sueur, Minnesota, and completed multiple landings in the traffic pattern.

Aero Linx: Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) We represent over 500 airports in 55 countries. Our members facilitate over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe. Air transport supports 13.5 million jobs, generating €886 billion in European economic activity (4.4% of GDP). In response to the Climate Emergency, in June 2019 our members committed to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions for operations under their control by 2050, without offsetting. Based in Brussels, we lead and serve the European airport industry and maintain strong links with other ACI regions throughout the world.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) A transportation system that transports people and property by air between two points in the NAS using aircraft with advanced technologies, including electric aircraft or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, in both controlled and uncontrolled airspace. 

“Pathfinder 1’s experimental flight test program is to demonstrate and establish the flight envelope for the airship…. LTA’s test plan is tailored to include substantial indoor and outdoor ground testing, using a build-up approach to gradually increase the flight envelope.” Source: From a letter supporting its application for a special airworthiness certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration, for its Pathfinder 1.