Terrafugia, the developer of the Transition roadable airplane, says it is designing a hybrid electric/fossil-fuel-powered flying car in the form of a tiltrotor. The TF-X would use electric drive on the ground and for power assist on takeoff. After reaching cruise, the twin tiltrotor pods would fold their propellers flat while a rear-mounted engine-driven shrouded fan would provide propulsion.
Takeoff
April 8, 2013 - 2:12pm
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) recently identified 100 safety risks across its aviation, marine and rail areas of responsibility, 36 of which relate to transport-category aviation. The ATSB report covers the period July 2009 through June 2012. Most risks were operationally focused within the aircraft itself, with a much smaller percentage related to ATC.
Air transport risks in 2011and 2012 also outweighed those identified as related to general aviation by three to one. Only five investigations, however, were categorized as complex (serious).
March 15, 2013 - 9:15am
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is soliciting proposals from industry for a vertical takeoff and landing experimental aircraft (VTOL X-plane) that would demonstrate “radical” improvements over the current state of VTOL flight. In late February, Darpa issued a broad agency announcement seeking proposals by May 1.
March 7, 2013 - 3:20pm
On Monday at Heli-Expo, AgustaWestland revealed that it has been secretly flying an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing demonstration aircraft powered by twin-electric, direct-drive tiltrotors. The “Project Zero” tiltrotor was designed and built in six months by the company’s advanced concepts group and has been flying since 2011. It features elevons for pitch and roll control and in forward flight, a V-tail for longitudinal stability, and a lifting body design with two integrated tiltrotors than can be tilted through 90 degrees.
January 29, 2013 - 11:44am
An “improperly crimped” fueldraulics line is the probable cause of a fuel leak that led the U.S. military to suspend flight operations of the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, which was grounded on January 18.
January 25, 2013 - 11:55am
Flight operations of the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter remained suspended this week as U.S. military and contractor engineering teams investigated the cause of an engine fueldraulic line failure in a test aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The fueldraulic line is part of the fuel-based hydraulic system that controls the actuators of the F-35B’s vectoring exhaust system. The grounding did not affect the F-35A and C models, respectively, the conventional takeoff and carrier variants.
November 2, 2012 - 5:35am
Cessna Aircraft has released a new Citation performance calculator for the Apple iPad. With CPCalc for the iPad along with Cessna’s CLCalc loading calculator (weight-and-balance) iPad app, pilots can spend less time preparing for flights while also making sure that important preflight calculations aren’t ignored. CPCalc is available for all current-production Citations and many out-of-production models, according to Cessna.
November 2, 2012 - 5:35am
Cessna Aircraft has released a new Citation performance calculator for the Apple iPad. With CPCalc for the iPad along with Cessna’s CLCalc loading calculator (weight-and-balance) iPad app, pilots can spend less time preparing for flights while also making sure that important preflight calculations aren’t ignored. CPCalc is available for all current-production Citations and many out-of-production models, according to Cessna.
July 2, 2012 - 4:25pm
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released details on June 24 of its investigation into the July 4, 2011 fatal crash of a Cessna Caravan 208B on takeoff from runway 33, the 3,000-foot gravel strip at the Pukatawagan Airport (CJR3), Pukatawagan, Manitoba.
