[ad_1] The move comes as Boeing attempts to regain the trust of regulators, airlines and, most of all, the public. In October, it came out that one of the company’s employees may have inadvertently misled the FAA about the performance of the 737 Max’s MCAS anti-stall technology. The employee told another pilot that he had […]
Category: aircraft
Boeing will freeze 737 Max production as FAA review carries on
[ad_1] Boeing has about 400 completed aircraft sitting in storage, and said that focusing on delivering those aircraft would be “least disruptive” to its long-term plans. Staff will either continue working on the 737 or receive temporary assignments with other teams. There’s little doubt this production stop will hurt Boeing’s bottom line. As the company […]
Air racing tournament unveils an all-electric sports aircraft
[ad_1] The lithium battery is short-lived, to put it mildly — the White Lightning can last for just five minutes of all-out racing, and 10 minutes of reserve flight at lower power. You won’t see any endurance races with this one. Air Race E chief Jeff Walkman instead describes the airplane and the tournament as […]
Volocopter’s massive utility drone can carry up to 440 pounds
[ad_1] The VoloDrone shares many similar specs with the VoloCity, as it can carry the same maximum payload of 440 lbs (200 kg) at up to a slightly further distance of 25 miles (40 km), and it can reach the same top speed of 68 mph (110 km/h). At 9.2 m wide and 2.3 m […]
Air Force’s X-37B space plane lands after record 780 days in orbit
[ad_1] The spacecraft completed “all mission objectives,” according to USAF Rapid Capabilities Office director Randy Walden. Just what those are isn’t clear, though. X-37B payloads are still classified, and officials have typically provided only vague hints of what was aboard. One was a thermal spreader that helped test “experimental electronics” and heat pipe cooling in […]
Boeing messages hint staff may have misled FAA about 737 Max
[ad_1] The FAA confirmed receiving notice about the messages, noting that Boeing had discovered them “some months ago.” While it didn’t discuss the specific content of the messages, it said they were “concerning” and was reviewing the chats to decide what came next. Boeing is in the midst of fixing the flaw, in part by […]
Boeing may use two computers to fix 737 Max’s latest flaw
[ad_1] The scoops also indicate just what the June flaw apparently entails. Reportedly, a microprocessor in the 737 Max wasn’t sufficiently protected against the consequences of random bit flips (a 0 changing to a 1, for instance). While this would be extremely unlikely — it’d be the result of cosmic rays hitting the chip — […]
European regulators demand changes to 737 Max autopilot
[ad_1] EASA wasn’t initially ready to comment. The FAA didn’t comment on its European counterpart’s work, but did say it was continuing to “work closely” with other civil aviation authorities to ensure the 737 Max is safe to fly. The additional concern could lead to a significant delay for any fixes. Bloomberg had already heard […]
Aircraft lands itself truly autonomously for the first time
[ad_1] The technology uses GPS to navigate, but allies that with both visible light and infrared cameras to spot the runway and obtain an accurate sense of its position even when fog or rain hurts visibility. From there, the aircraft can calculate a glide path and otherwise touch down all on its own. The project […]
Boeing teams with flying taxi startup Kitty Hawk on ‘urban air mobility’
[ad_1] Both sides have clear incentives to forge an alliance . Kitty Hawk has already shown promise with Cora (above), an autonomous electric taxi prototype that’s already in testing in New Zealand. However, it’s still a relatively small outfit. Even with former Google exec Sebastian Thrun at the helm and the backing of Google’s Larry […]