Aircraft

Monégasque aerial photography and drone show company McClic has successfully test-flown its MC One personal eVTOL, a simple but nice-looking coaxial octacopter with a pilot's seat on top. Anyone can fly it, given about 10 minutes' training.

There's precious little human dignity in economy airline travel to begin with; why not go all the way? The HypNap TruRest offers you the opportunity to attempt sleep with your face mashed into a padded cradle, and arrive red, wrinkly and refreshed.

Bombardier says it's stepping up prototype testing on its blended-wing Ecojet project, aiming to use its lift-generating fuselage, low-drag wingspan and propulsion advances to heavily reduce fuel burn and cut emissions in half.

The blended-wing Natilus Kona aircraft, which is now flying in quarter-scale testing in California, is set to have a zero-emissions variant thanks to a partnership with Zeroavia, which will provide a 600 kW hydrogen-electric powertrain option.

Rolls-Royce has completed the first ground tests on its massive UltraFan engine, claiming it's at least 10% more efficient than any other large aero engine in service today. This carbon/titanium beauty will roll out on airliners in the 2030s.

California aerospace company Stratolaunch has taken a major step closer to the realization of its planned hypersonic flight launch system. Last weekend, the firm successfully released the TA-0 test vehicle from its Roc carrier aircraft.

Six months after revealing its production eVTOL air taxi design, Archer Aviation has shown off its first functional Midnight aircraft, with flight tests set to begin in the coming months – and manufacturing has already begun on a conforming prototype.

Fresh video shows that one of the most fascinating eVTOL aircraft designs we've seen is now flying at larger scale. The Transwing platform uses a unique dihedral folding wing system to move between hover and cruise modes, unlocking huge advantages.

California startup JetZero says it's working with the USAF, NASA and the FAA to get a blended-wing body jet airliner into service by 2030, promising to use an astonishing 50% less fuel, and providing a perfect platform for clean hydrogen airliners.

NASA this week marked the 50th anniversary of the total ban of civilian supersonic flights over the US. The milestone comes as the agency continues development of the X-59 experimental supersonic aircraft intended to reintroduce civilian Mach+ service.

H2Fly has successfully tested the ground-based cryogenic fuel filling procedure that'll power groundbreaking liquid hydrogen aircraft flights in the coming months. Liquid H2 will be an absolute game-changer, allowing clean long-distance air travel.

In another milestone on the road to fully Autonomous Formation Flight and Autonomous Air-to-Air Refueling (A4R), Airbus Defence and Space has autonomously guided and controlled a drone using an A310 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) flying testbed.

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.