CubCrafters Has Manufactured A Fleet Of Around 1500 New Aircraft -- So Far

The note we received late Monday was sad, to say the least... "It is with heavy hearts that we share the loss of our Founder, Jim Richmond, who passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 21st, 2021 surrounded by loving family at his home in Yakima, Washington. He will be missed greatly by family, friends, customers, and coworkers alike." Both Jim Richmond and the company he founded, CubCrafters, are names that are synonymous with new innovation in backcountry aviation. Jim started the company in 1980, and although he had retired from its day-to-day management in recent years, he continued to be active in managing the strategic and creative direction of the company until his

Buyers Can Choose From A Few Engine Configurations

TL Sport Aircraft announced their newest addition to their stable, the side-by-side Sparker, at the 2021 DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase. Meant to be a luxurious, high-performance personal aircraft, the Sparker is on track to build a niche all its own, an LSA with all the bells and whistles of a larger, more expensive airplane.

Arkansas Neighborhood to See Automated Air Delivery

Residents of Pea Ridge, Arkansas are set to enjoy Walmart's new on-demand delivery service, with a driver a little out of the ordinary. For those within range of the Neighborhood Market Walmart location, orders for select health and wellness items, and a variety of consumable items, will be delivered by a Zipline drone to their front door. After announcing the offering of autonomous delivery in 2020, Walmart and Zipline have been creating a 25-foot platform to act as a miniature airport of sorts, necessary to provide enough room to safely take off and land, as well as house the aircraft and flight operations crew. At full capacity, the system is hoped to service a 50-mile radius.

Sierra Space Receives $1.4 Billion Series A Funding

Sierra has appeared to be an underdog in its efforts to secure past NASA contracts. In 2014, it was passed over for a chance to fly personnel for the agency, and rebuffed upon appeal. After securing a contract to fly cargo and supplies to the ISS, things began looking up for a time. Now, 5 years on and $1 billion spent, the spacecraft still has not flown a mission. With delays in Boeing's commercial spacecraft, Sierra could exploit a gap in mission coverage by taking up cancelled or delayed operations. Sierra Space announced a successful Series A Funding round that is hoped to get the Dream Chaser off the ground with $1.4 billion in investments.

Begins eMagic, Fixed-Wing Hybrid eVTOL 

Thomas Senkel made eVTOL and AAM history with his pioneering work on Volocopter, neé e-Volo, as one of the founding members and testers of their multi-copter air taxi aircraft. After 5 years with the company, Senkel split in 2016 to pursue more efficient, longer-legged sustainable aircraft. Feeling that a new enterprise and aircraft would offer more fertile engineering ground for his talents, he partnered with Michael Kügelgen to start eMagic. Their focus on a hybrid fixed-wing/multirotor system results in an aircraft with longer range, greater efficiency, and vastly improved flight characteristics when compared to a standard rotor-based eVTOL. 

Renew Design Partnership for Limited Luxury Helicopter

Airbus has launched another stylistic collaboration with classic Automaker Mercedes-Benz for a special edition of their ACH145 Helicopter, as revealed at the European Rotors show in Cologne that a facelift of the helicopter is on the way to court a more executive, premium clientele. The exclusive, named the Mercedes-Benz Style VIP H145, offers improved performance, increased flight safety, and improved exterior design over the base level EC145 on which the aircraft is based. 

Also: Inertial Nav, UAvionix, Climate Plan (For ALL), GPSIIIF Satellites

Russian state manufacturer Rostec has unveiled its new unmanned fighter, currently called the Checkmate, at the Dubai Airshow. The Sukhoi Checkmate has been billed as a 5th generation light tactical aircraft. The fighter appears to offer a 1,700 mile range, a top speed just under 1,400 mph, and 5 internal hardpoints. Like other similar low-vis aircraft, the design will likely negate a portion of its stealth cross section with arms and external fuel tanks, with mission capability determined by the range and level of visibility desired. The compromise was not unforeseen, being commo

Airplane Subsequently Climbed To 16,300 Ft, Then Began A Rapid Descent To 11,300 Ft With Erratic Turns

On October 28, 2021, about 0911 Pacific daylight time, a Mooney M20M, N40KA, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near, North Bend, Washington. The private pilot sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan with a planned route from Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO), Arlington, Washington, to Magic Valley Regional Airport (TWC) Twin Falls, Idaho. A review of preliminary air traffic control (ATC) communications and radar data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed

AD 2021-24-07 Requires A General Visual Inspection Of Both Engine Fire Handles And Applicable Corrective Actions

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain ATR–GIE Avions de Transport Régional Model ATR42 airplanes and Model ATR72 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report of a certain procedure in the aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) that incorrectly described a visual inspection of the fire handle. This AD requires a general visual inspection of both engine fire handles and applicable corrective actions, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is incorporated by reference. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. This AD becomes effective

AD 2021-24-09 Requires A Visual Inspection Of The M/R Clevis, Rod End, And A Certain Part-Numbered Universal Bearing

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bell Textron Canada Limited Model 430 helicopters. This AD was prompted by an in-flight failure of the main rotor (M/R) pitch link clevis (clevis) due to fatigue damage and excessive wear. This AD requires a visual inspection of the M/R clevis, rod end, and a certain part-numbered universal bearing, performing a purge grease, and performing a magnetic particle inspection of each M/R clevis. Depending on the visual inspection and magnetic particle inspection results, this AD requires removing certain parts from service, replacing certain parts, and performing addition

Jet Route A route designed to serve aircraft operations from 18,000 feet MSL up to and including flight level 450. The routes are referred to as “J” routes with numbering to identify the designated route; e.g., J105.

Aero Linx: The Vertical Flight Society The Vertical Flight Society is the world’s oldest and largest technical society dedicated to enhancing the understanding of vertical flight technology. VFS is a non-profit, charitable educational and technical organization. Since it was founded as American Helicopter Society (AHS) in 1943 — just as the first US helicopter was being put into service — the Society has been the primary forum for interchange of information on vertical flight technology. According to the Society Bylaws, the purpose of the Society is to "advance the theory and practices of the science of vertical flight aircraft."