Aircraft

At this week's German National Aviation Conference in Hamburg, Airbus Helicopters took the wraps off its PioneerLab flying helicopter laboratory based on the company's twin-engine H145 platform.

UK company Aeralis is going full throttle on a disruptive new modular jet concept that could handle a huge range of capabilities, from advanced jet training to long-range unmanned ISR missions, with a single fuselage and a range of swappable parts.

The US Naval Research Laboratory has funded a groundbreaking project to develop a new hypersonic engine capable of morphing its shape during flight to optimize power, thrust and efficiency. It's now entering experimental testing in Florida.

Liquid hydrogen is a giant pain to handle, but it's one of the few technologies with a genuine chance of decarbonizing long-range flight. So it's huge news for clean aviation that H2Fly has now landed the word's first piloted liquid hydrogen flight.

Three years ago, California-based Jump Aero announced its plan to bring first responders to emergency sites via eVTOL aircraft. The company has now unveiled the design and specs of the vehicle, and already has a buyer lined up.

Piloting a cruise-capable eVTOL aircraft will be unlike flying anything that's come before it, thanks to fully digital fly-by-wire flight control systems. We jumped in Lilium's motion-rig simulator to learn how the system feels from the cockpit.

After a 20-year hiatus, the return of commercial supersonic flight is another step closer after Boom Supersonic announced that its prototype faster-than-sound jet has undergone ground tests and won an experimental airworthiness certificate from the US FAA.

While the FAA reviews new regulations to okay light sports helicopters, aerospace companies Advanced Tactics and Rotor X have teamed up to use military helicopter technology to create a fly-by-wire sport two-seater copter called the ATRX-700.

One of the most colorful characters in aviation has entered the electric VTOL space. Franky Zapata, best known for his death-defying high-speed Flyboard antics, has announced a hybrid eVTOL to go alongside his jet-powered, flippable flying deckchair.

eHang is set to become the world's first company to get an electric VTOL air taxi type certified and into commercial service, after successfully completing its entire flight test program with China's aviation authority. Oh, and it's autonomous.

Leading UK eVTOL company Vertical Aerospace has suffered an expensive-looking setback just weeks into its off-tether flight test program. Its VX4 air taxi prototype reportedly hit the deck from about 20 ft up, snapping a wing and making quite a mess.

When most folk think about flying cars, we think of machines that seamlessly convert from street to air mode, that can take off and land vertically, and that can cruise in the air and on the highway. The US$789,000 Aska A5 promises to do it all.

UK-based Vertical Aerospace has started flight-testing its full-size electric air taxi, but is now targeting a 2026 debut. The tilt-rotor VX4 eVTOL seats up to five, and promises more than 100 miles (160 km) of range, at speeds up to 200 mph (322 km/h).

In a sky-high, 24-hour test flight, BAE System successfully sent its High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) PHASA-35 solar-powered drone into the stratosphere, reaching an altitude of over 66,000 ft (20,000 m).

Green-energy businessman Dale Vince has revealed plans to set up the UK's first electric aviation company. Ecojet will repurpose conventional aircraft to fly on hydrogen-electric power, with domestic flights planned to start as early as 2025.