Search Results for: Lockheed

The National Aeronautic Association announced that the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) Team is the recipient of the 2018 Robert J. Collier Trophy for “successfully completing a rapid design, integration and flight test of critical, lifesaving technology for the worldwide [Lockheed Martin] F-35 fleet.” The Collier Trophy is awarded annually “for the greatest […]

The first evidence of a retractable landing gear design was in Europe circa 1911, but a working example didnt show up on aircraft until after WWI. As airplanes got heavier and faster, meanwhile, airport infrastructure-which mainly consisted of an open field and a windsock- couldnt keep up. As a result, some of the fastest airplanes in the 1920s and 1930s were seaplanes, even with the aerodynamic drag their floats imposed. By the time WWII erupted, the latest airplanes were equipped with retractable landing gear, even if in a conventional, taildragging configuration. Still, many long-range, multi-engine airliners of the day were seaplanes.

Much of the skepticism about whether the Aerion SST 12-seat business jet might ever fly was probably squashed when Boeing NeXt said this week it was making a significant investment into the Reno, Nevada, aircraft builder. Boeing NeXt’s portfolio includes autonomous air vehicles and passenger-carrying hypersonic aircraft. Founded in 2003 to develop new, more efficient […]

The Arsenal of Democracy has scheduled another mass formation flyover with groups of historic warbirds forming up over Washington D.C. The event, scheduled for May 8, 2020, will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Twenty-four warbird formations will feature approximately 100 U.S. and Allied WWII aircraft representing significant battles of […]

When Jet It founder and CEO Glenn Gonzales found out that Tuskegee Airman Col. Charles E. McGee was about to celebrate his 99th birthday, he jumped at the opportunity to do something special for the war hero. A former Air Force pilot himself, Gonzales invited McGee to take a flight in Honda Aircraft’s HA-420 HondaJet. […]

NASA said last week it has officially committed to a development timeline that will lead to the first flight of its X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft by 2021. Development of X-59 QueSST falls under the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project, part of the Integrated Aviation Systems Program in NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. The […]

“There are those who have flown them and those who have not, and it is idle for the former to try to explain matters to the latter.” A Vickers Supermarine test pilot, Jeffrey Quill, was talking about the Walrus, an amphibious biplane flying boat designed in 1929 by RJ Mitchell, who a few years later […]

It’s the final Gold race for the Sport Class at the Stihl National Championship Air Races outside Reno, Nevada. I’m in an Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros, making circles at 8,500 feet above the Reno-Stead Airport, watching as a group of eight Lancair Legacies, Super Glasairs and Thunder Mustangs battles it out at high speeds around […]

Looking back, the results were predictable, but the pilots and operators of earlier aircraft rarely had a choice. Advances in technology today allow precise engine monitoring and data evaluation so as to accurately predict and prevent upcoming partial or complete engine failures. In fact, monitoring has improved to the point that its rare for a modern and properly maintained-and operated-piston aircraft engine to fail without some kind of warning. The operators job is to conduct appropriate monitoring and analysis, and then to act when the data indicate a problem. Establishing an engine monitoring program and the minimal investment in equipment and training can be a significant factor in improving safety and reducing the overall cost of operation.

Spend a few years as a pilot and aircraft checkouts become second nature, those hours spent with an instructor to learn the ins and outs of a new machine so you can head off toward that next dramatic destination on your own. Every once in a while though the act itself of checking out becomes […]