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Icon A5 plane crash kills two, including its lead designer
A fatal crash has left the amphibious Icon A5 personal aircraft's fate mired in uncertainty. Lead engineer Jon Karkow and coworker Cagri Sever were killed in the accident outside of Icon's Vacaville, California training facility, AVweb reports. Karkow was piloting the aircraft at the time and the pair had been airborne for around 20 minutes.
After Math: Flying high
It's been a big week for aviation achievements. DARPA successfully flew a model of its next VTOL aircraft, Dr. Peggy Whitson is tacking on three more months to her ISS stay (and breaking another record along the way), and SpaceX is saving big on its reusable rocket costs. Numbers, because how else would you join the 1.60934 kilometer-high club?
Tiny airborne probe could help local weather forecasts
To date, it hasn't been easy to get loads of airborne weather data beyond major airports. Airliners have had a sophisticated probe system (TAMDAR Edge) for over a dozen years, but that doesn't help much in those remote areas where you may only see smaller airplanes or drones. NASA is close to covering this gap, though: it recently started test-flying a relatively tiny, lightweight version of TAMDAR Edge aboard an Ikhana drone. The tech promises real-time weather data on virtually any aircraft, filling in local atmospheric conditions even in barren places like the Arctic. You could have clearer indications of when a thunderstorm is brewing in a very specific region, or track previously unrecorded conditions above hurricanes.
Flying the Icon A5, an almost affordable personal plane
As we cut through the skies over the Hudson River and traced a loop around the Statue of Liberty, I spent as much time glancing down at the instrument cluster as I did peering out the window. That might seem like a huge waste of time given the views I was taking in but I couldn't help it: It's not often I wind up in the cockpit of a plane looking at dials and readouts, much less ones that make sense to me. That's because a pilot and I were tooling around in an Icon A5, a $189,000 "light sport" amphibious aircraft that's eager to shrug off the complexity of (relatively) cheap aviation. After nearly ten years of development and fighting for FAA approval, the A5 is almost ready to make the skies accessible to the well-heeled.
The US Army lost control of a radar blimp
It's the runaway llamas all over again... in airborne form. One of the US Army's missile-detecting radar blimps broke off its tether in Maryland, creating havoc both in the skies (the Air Force even sent fighter jets to track it) and among the many, many internet users following its every move. It eventually drifted over Pennsylvania, and there are reports that it knocked out power lines at a school in the state before coming down. We're still waiting to know the blimp's health, but it's safe to say that the Army will be more than a little red-faced as it looks into what went wrong.
NASA's version of 'Shark Tank' results in six aviation moonshots
NASA wants to change the way planes fly. As part of a new Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project, the agency's innovators recently formed teams to pitch their wildest ideas to a jury. Out of the 17 teams that presented their aviation-transforming studies to a panel of NASA managers, six teams secured funding for their research. While the process seems an awful lot like a VC funding round, according to program manager Doug Rohn, no monetary return on the investment is expected. The program is designed to back seemingly improbable ideas that might lead to solutions to the problems that plague aviation.
Virtualized Air Force war games put Top Gun to shame
Every year for the past four decades, the US Air Force and its NATO allies have staged a series of mock battles -- dubbed Red Flag events -- to provide soldiers with "real-world" experience before actually throwing them into active combat. But this year's Red Flag marks a significant departure from its predecessors in that the 2015 exercise will be the first to virtually integrate warfighters from around the country using cutting-edge flight simulators.
Delta's in-flight WiFi is about to get a whole lot faster
If you've flown Delta recently (or most domestic airlines) and tried to use the onboard Gogo WiFi, you know that it's often a crapshoot. A combination of where you're flying over and the number of passengers attempting to use it leads to either a decent connection (yay!), one that's slow as a snail (ugh), or none at all ($#!%). Look, we need to remember that sending tweets at 35,000 feet is basically magic. But being able to stream even a low-res YouTube clip would really make flying a happier experience.
The Big Picture: Private jets swarm out of Arizona after the Super Bowl
If you've just returned from a boutique hermitage in the middle of nowhere, you might have missed the fact that the Super Bowl has just finished. While most people, naturally, will be driving away from the University of Phoenix's stadium, a higher class of sports enthusiast will be taking a private jet back home. If you check into a flight tracking service like FlightAware right now, for instance, you'll see the sky over Arizona blocked out by a fleet of Gulfstreams and Cessnas. Judging by the map, there's going to be more than a few east coast-bound flights that'll run out of champagne in the not-too-distant future.
What you should know before flying a drone in the UK
Drones used to be scary, specialist equipment reserved for the military and dystopian sci-fi novels. But now they're everywhere. Companies have worked out how to make these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) cheap and reasonably easy to fly, enticing a whole new wave of amateur pilots. Whether you want to use one for photography or filming purposes, or simply to master the art of flight, it's never been easier to have a go. The rapid rise in drone ownership has left many governments scrambling to work out how, if at all, these lightweight aircraft should be regulated. The rules and restrictions vary around the world, so it's always a good idea to familiarise yourself before launching a drone somewhere new. Keen to start flying in the UK? Here's everything you should know first.
Gaijin on the creation of War Thunder's Victory is Ours short film
Remember that spiffy War Thunder short film that we watched earlier this month? Gaijin has published a blog post that gives a little background on its creation. The script came together rather quickly, and Ukrainian studio Postmodern was chosen to handle filming duties which were then completed near Kiev in "a record two-day shoot." Gaijin says that an additional half day was spent on a studio stage, and that the abbreviated process was helped along by the fact that the entire film was "pre-visualized and made in a 3-D sketch." The company also says that more details on the making of Victory is Ours will be forthcoming.
Rescue teams will soon have access to global aircraft tracking data
The disappearance of flight MH370 taught the general public one thing: that flight tracking technology isn't as comprehensive as many might have thought. Current radar doesn't have global coverage, and if a transponder fails (as was the case with the Malaysia Airlines flight) there's little that can be done. Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) promises to improve things, but still won't cover the whole planet. Aireon (a subsidiary of Iridium Satellite) has an implementation of ADS-B that promises global reach (a leap from 10- to 100 percent coverage according to its claims). It uses 66 of Iridium's "Next" Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites which is what allows it to cover remote, or oceanic regions out of reach by current systems. "Aireon Alert" has been in development for some time, and is scheduled to launch in 2017. What's new, is that Aireon has announced it'll be providing the it's Alert data to emergency services and the aviation community free of charge. Soon after launch, approved search and rescue teams will then be able to get the location of any ADS-B enabled flight without needing extra avionics.
US claims Chinese exec used hackers to steal warplane data
The US isn't done throwing the book at alleged Chinese industrial spies. The Department of Justice has charged a Chinese executive living in Canada, Su Bin, with stealing sensitive info for Boeing and Lockheed Martin warplanes like the C-17 cargo hauler and F-22 fighter. Reportedly, Su partnered with two people to hack into the aircraft makers' networks and either pass along or sell any secrets to interested parties in China. Unlike other targets of the DOJ's wrath, though, it appears that Su was more concerned about profit than helping any government intelligence efforts. While he was handing over data to state-owned aviation firms, he complained of "stingy" buyers and was willing to take a long time to hash out a deal -- not exactly the hallmarks of a government-backed spy.
This is what a day's worth of transatlantic air travel looks like (video)
The seas between Europe and North America are relatively quiet on any given day, but 30,000 feet above some 2,500 planes follow tracks (like invisible highways) between both continents, landing in gateway cities like London and New York or flying far beyond. Of course, not all of those aircraft are carrying commercial passengers -- cargo, military and private flights make up a great deal of that traffic -- but regardless of their purpose and destination, that kind of volume is a spectacular sight to behold. NATS, the UK's National Air Traffic Services, created a video render to help visualize the 1,400-odd flights it handles each day. The agency helps provide aircraft separation via pilot reports rather than radar, which is only accessible to flights near land. With limited technology at their disposal, it's a lot of work for controllers, as you can clearly see in the video after the break.
In-flight WiFi to be available across Europe by 2017
In-flight internet is readily available across the US, but that type of connectivity is almost unheard of in Europe. Regulators are coming 'round to the idea, and seeing an untapped opportunity, Inmarsat has announced its grand plan to create an EU-wide network for getting air travelers online. The satellite company is partnering with 4G providers to build an air-to-ground network that'll handle the data traffic, in the same way Gogo (and soon AT&T) provides in-flight WiFi in the US. A newly built satellite called Europasat will also provide support from above, making sure the connection stays constant as a plane pairs with different cell towers along its path.
Drone inspectors: UK airline easyJet looks to tech to cut costs
Virgin's the kind of brand we're not shocked to see playing with the latest tech -- after all, Richard Branson's got a space plane. Experiments with Google Glass, smartwatches and iBeacon for Virgin have all focused on boosting customer experience, as long as you're in Upper Class, anyway. European airline easyJet, however, is known for its no-frills, low-cost approach, which is why we're curious to see the company investing in an "innovation" arm that looks at how new technologies can be applied to aviation, with no immediate return. easyJet sees it differently, though, as the long-term goal is to save money by reducing technical delays, or hopefully avoiding them all together. This has a knock-on effect of improving customer service by minimizing disruptions, of course, but make no mistake: easyJet's motivated to explore emerging tech because a grounded plane might as well be a money pit.
Etihad's A380 'Residence' has a lounge, double bed and an en-suite shower
We've seen full-length beds, 32-inch TVs and even dedicated chefs on board the latest Airbus and Boeing planes, but Etihad's setting the bar far, far higher by offering an entire section of its brand-new A380 to passengers with the cash to spare. "The Residence," as the airline's calling its uber-lux three-room suite, includes 125 square feet of space spread between a living room, dining area, bedroom and private bathroom (yes, of course it has a shower). You can have the suite all to yourself, or you can share the double bed with a companion. As for the tech on board, there's a 32-inch TV in the living room, a 27-inch screen near the bed, HDMI inputs (hello PS4 at 30,000 feet), power outlets, USB ports and a top-of-the-line Panasonic entertainment system. Etihad's not talking pricing at this point, but the A380 is expected to fly between Abu Dhabi and London, New York and Sydney beginning in 2015, giving you plenty of time to save up. Update: The Residence is now available for bookings. Dates we priced in March 2015 are coming in at a whopping £25,456, or about $43,000 roundtrip for the roughly seven-hour trip between London and Abu Dhabi.
DARPA envisions a smarter, safer autopilot
Autonomous aircraft serve their purpose, but there's no question that pilotless passenger flights are a long way off, if they ever become a reality. Still, there's obviously room for improvement when it comes to on-board systems that assist pilots in their duties. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is in the process of creating an advanced autopilot system called ALIAS (yes, another acronym). The Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (there you go) would control military aircraft in all stages of flight, from takeoff to landing -- even during a system failure. Pilots would interact with the system using a touchscreen and voice control, supervising a flight instead of commanding it. Of course, we'll see this technology make its way to military planes long before it's adopted by airlines, but ALIAS could play a key role in keeping us all safe at 30,000 feet.
These plastic pipes filled with warm water help Airbus test passenger comfort on the A350
Airbus has been flying A350 test aircraft with passenger seating since February, but the European manufacturer has just now welcomed journalists (and its own photographers) on board at Germany's Aircraft Interiors Expo. The plane is outfitted with an array of test equipment, including plastic pipes filled with warm water mounted on each seat. Temperature-controlled pipes are used to simulate a full cabin after hours of flight, likely to give Airbus an idea of how ventilation systems work to keep the interior comfortable and cool. This is also one of the first A350s to be outfitted with proper coach and business seats, giving us an idea of what we might experience on Airbus' answer to the Dreamliner once it begins scheduled flights later this year.
Gogo's in-flight WiFi network is now available in Canada
Clue's in the headline, really.
