Also: Surf Air, General Atomics MQ-9B, 2024 Nikolsky Lectureship, Cops v Drones
Aurora's X-65 has been started under DARPA's Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program. The aircraft is a purpose-built testbed for demonstrating the effects of active flow control throughout a variety of flight envelopes and missions, testing the effects of the theory on tactical operations and performance-focused high-speed designs. NASA is once again soliciting names to be included aboard the upcoming VIPER moon mission, allowing Earthbound civilians a chance to get their name inscribed in spacefaring history. Much like the Perseverance Rover program, applications are accepted to have NASA enthusiasts' names added to a smal
'See & Avoid’ Failure Belies Other Structural Misses in Tour Industry
An Australian helicopter tour crash has been updated with more recent findings, just over a year since the incident took place. On January 2nd, 2023, a pair of Eurocopter EC120B4 aircraft collided on the Gold Coast of Queensland, killing 4 and injuring 9 passengers. The incident was fairly well documented, thanks to the tourists aboard. While headlines focused on the interim report’s mention of cocaine traces in one of the pilots’ blood, a few other lessons of note arise. The pilot’s positive result was accompanied by no signs of chronic stimulant use, and the drug could have been taken up to 4 days before the accident flight.
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