Aircraft

Pilot Luke Czepiela has completed an amazing landing on Dubai's iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. Using a lightweight plane, he touched-down on the skyscraper's helipad at a height of 212 m, coming to a stop with only a few meters to spare.

Beta Technologies has announced plans to take its CX300 electric aircraft, a fixed-wing version of the Alia eVTOL unveiled in 2020, through the certification process and into production for regional medical, cargo, defense and passenger applications.

German airline Lufthansa is overhauling the way its customers will experience international travel on its new Boeing 789 and Airbus A350-900 aircraft, with the Allegris project improving passenger comfort for business, first-class and economy flyers.

High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are effective tools for communication and surveillance because they operate from the stratosphere, much closer to earth than satellites. But how do they stay on track?

Autoflight has debuted its 4th-gen full-size eVTOL air taxi prototype with a bang, celebrating the longest-ever recorded flight of an electric VTOL aircraft. Prosperity flew 250.64 km on a single charge, relegating Joby Aviation to second place.

As part of its Project Sunrise for ultra-long-distance flights, Qantas is showing off the new Business Class and First Class seats for its future Airbus A350-1000 fleet that convert into little staterooms to make 22-hour flights more endurable.

BAE Systems has unveiled a fascinating new autonomous, hybrid, VTOL UAV for military use. The STRIX, developed in Australia, folds to fit inside a shipping container, and is capable of carrying 160 kg (353 lb) of payload over 800 km (500 miles).

Following more than 350 test flights and two demonstration races of its remotely piloted Airspeeder Mk3 eVTOL, Alauda Aeronautics has revealed the design for the first crewed racer – which boasts a top speed of 360 km/h and a range of 300 km.

Australia's AMSL Aero has celebrated the first tethered test flight of its ultra-efficient Vertiia eVTOL aircraft. With its unique box wing formation, eight tilting propellers and five seats, it promises a 1,000 km range and speeds up to 300 km/h.

With tiny, ducted electric "jets" instead of exposed propellers, Lilium's eVTOL aircraft looks incredible, but it'll place a unique strain on its batteries. Lilium has invested millions into a company that makes cells it believes are up to the task.

The Aerofugia AE200 technical demonstrator is a full-size, five-seat eVTOL air taxi prototype with tilting propulsion units. It's a clear statement of intent: this Chinese automaker has serious designs on the urban air mobility space.

Detroit's Airspace Experience Technologies has presented a full-scale prototype of its modular eVTOL aircraft platform, Sigma-6, an innovative airframe featuring swappable cargo and passenger pods and a functional skateboard robot to manage them.

Back in 2020, California-based startup Pyka launched an autonomous electric crop duster called the Pelican. Now the company has developed a cargo-carrying version that's billed as the world's largest autonomous electric cargo airplane.

With a US$425-million cash injection from NASA, Boeing will build and test a full-sized airliner based on its transonic truss-braced wing (TTBW) concept, using long, thin, strut-braced wings to add lift, reduce drag, and burn an impressive 30% less fuel.

These strangely-shaped twisted-toroid propellers look like a revolutionary (sorry) advance for the aviation and marine sectors. Radically quieter than traditional propellers in both air and water, they're also showing some huge efficiency gains.