“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year's casualties in Ukraine. Our adversaries collectively produce millions of cheap drones each year. While global military drone production skyrocketed over the last three years, the previous administration deployed red tape. U.S. units are not outfitted with the lethal small drones the modern battlefield requires.” Source: From Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recently published memo.

Single-Seat eVTOL an Excellent Steed for the First Guy On-Scene

Jetson got an unusual invite from the GOPR Polish Mountain Rescue Team: Try out a pair of their production single-seat eVTOLs in a rescue scenario. The team travelled to southern Poland with some Jetson ONEs in tow, trying out a number of practice scenarios in the local mountainscape. The single-seat nature of the ONE apparently didn’t cause much issue in terms of rescue ops, intended to provide rapid transport to the very first of the first-responders...

Air India’s B787, VT-ANB, Went Down At Ahmedabad, 12 June 2025, 0809 UTC

Barely a month after the tragedy of the first major Boeing 787 accident, a preliminary report has surfaced that indicates that something may have been amiss in the cockpit and neither the airframe or maintenance procedures is currently suspected as the Probable Cause for the tragedy that took the lives of 241 people in the aircraft (with one improbable survivor) and another 19 souls on the ground. The aviation industry has been bombarded with countless instant experts on the internet... some of whom should have known better than to guess so early into the investigation phase, but we tend to doubt that the Prelim will shut many of them up... even when they've clearly been off the mark time and time again. 

Brand-New Offerings Incorporate Multiple Sources For Initial Applicants

A partnership between Aviation Supplies & Academics (ASA) and Sporty’s Pilot Shop has developed a brand new set of course offerings for initial applicants for the CFI Airplane, CFI Instrument, and Airline Transport Pilot certificates. The courses combine information from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive preparation for both knowledge and oral exams.

Up Next: Building, Testing, Engineering…

Bell Helicopter has been down-selected for Phase 2 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s SPRINT X-Plane program, but that’s a good thing! The wording is apparently a positive turn of DARPA phrase that indicates Bell Textron, Inc will move forward in the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) X-Plane program and complete their design for a demonstrator. They’ll go as far as construction, ground testing, and certification of the aircraft eventually, hopefully giving their client an aircraft that can hover in place and still pull off a 450-knot cruise.

Carrier’s A350 Fleet Next Up For Connectivity Upgrade

Qatar’s flag airline Qatar Airways announced it has completed Starlink installations across its fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft and confirmed it will commence on installing the connectivity solution in its Airbus A350 fleet next.

Also: ANOTHER Illegal Drone, KidVenture Educational Activities, Record Launches, TSA v Shoes

The Senate confirmed Bryan Bedford to become the next Administrator of the FAA, in a near party-line 53-43 vote. Bedford takes over the agency during a critical time when safety issues have become prominent and Congress has approved initial funding for the complete overhaul of the air traffic control system that is slated to be completed in the next 3-4 years. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said, "I am pleased to announce that I am directing our GREAT Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to be Interim Administrator of NASA. He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time." NASA’s old-school WB-57 got a workout this week with a novel mission for the classic aircraft: Emergency assessment of the devastated Texas Hill Country. The high-altitude WB-57 has been a trusty workhors

Also: ANOTHER Illegal Drone, KidVenture Educational Activities, Record Launches, TSA v Shoes

The Senate confirmed Bryan Bedford to become the next Administrator of the FAA, in a near party-line 53-43 vote. Bedford takes over the agency during a critical time when safety issues have become prominent and Congress has approved initial funding for the complete overhaul of the air traffic control system that is slated to be completed in the next 3-4 years. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said, "I am pleased to announce that I am directing our GREAT Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, to be Interim Administrator of NASA. He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time." NASA’s old-school WB-57 got a workout this week with a novel mission for the classic aircraft: Emergency assessment of the devastated Texas Hill Country. The high-altitude WB-57 has been a trusty w

Also: Hydroplane Update, VoltAero Debuts HPU 210, MD State Police Helos, Jetson ONE Rescue Demo

Barely a month after the first major Boeing 787 accident, a preliminary report indicates that something may have been amiss in the cockpit. The tragedy took the lives of 241 people in the aircraft (with one improbable survivor) and another 19 souls on the ground. The prelim notes that, "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. NBAA is pushing back in a big way on a recent report by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) that it says provides an incomplete and inaccurate depiction of business jet emissions and private a

Adriano Di Pietro Takes the Helm As Hydrogen-Electric Aircraft Moves Towards Certification

Australian hydrogen-electric VTOL developer AMSL Aero announced a new CEO in the form of Doctor Adriano Di Pietro, putting him in charge as they move towards Vertiia certification. Di Pietro brings two decades of experience in the defense, aerospace, and automotive systems industries, with a PhD in advanced aerospace manufacturing tech and a bachelors in engineering. He will lead the way on the second full-scale prototype of the Vertiia, and take point as they complete its first hydrogen-powered flight test program. Once they get certification for the Vertiia under CASA there, he plans to scale up manufacturing for global commercial expansion.