Flight Tests

Space

Virgin Galactic might reach space on next flight

Virgin Galactic may finally reach space tomorrow, with the company's VSS Unity spacecraft currently being prepared for its fourth powered test flight. If weather and technical issues permit, the spaceplane will reach supersonic speeds on a suborbital trajectory to reach an altitude of about 62 mi.

$This version of the ApusDuo is just a fraction of the planned final craft, which will have a 91.9 ft wingspan and be able to stay aloft for up to a year$

Aircraft

Autonomous high-altitude aircraft nails new flight tests

We’re a step closer to having high-altitude, long-endurance, autonomous aircraft soaring through the skies. UAVOS has now announced that a prototype of the company’s High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) ApusDuo aircraft has completed the first stage of flight tests.

NASA has tested three new technologies to reduce airframe noise as planes come in for landing

Aircraft

Experimental NASA noise-reduction tech could make for quieter airports

NASA has tested three new noise reduction technologies on a series of Acoustic Research Measurement (ARM) flights, and managed to cut airframe noise during landing by more than 70 percent.

Aircraft

High-altitude, autonomous, solar-powered aircraft flexes wings to ace flight tests

Autonomous aerial vehicles known as High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS) can soar at the edges of space for long periods of time. Now, UAVOS has conducted test flights of its ApusDuo prototype, an autonomous, solar-powered aircraft with flexible wings that bend and bounce to keep it aloft.

The current design is unmanned but allows for a future variant to include a crew of up to seven

Space

Dream Chaser spaceplane hauled aloft in first captive carry flight test

After years of development the latest Dream Chaser spaceplane has completed its first captive carry flight test. Hoisted up by a Chinook helicopter, the Dream Chaser will undertake one more captive carry flight test in the near future before embarking upon its first free flight later this year.

One of the archival videos uploaded shows the wingless M2-F1 (seen above) being towed by a souped up 1963 Pontiac convertible

Aircraft

NASA uploads hundreds of historic experimental flight videos to YouTube

Fans of experimental aircraft from the 20th century are in for a treat. NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center has begun uploading its entire historical archive to YouTube, making hundreds of videos highlighting different test flights and strange planes from the past 70 years easily accessible.

An artist impression of the full-scale design

Aircraft

DARPA’s sub-scale VTOL X-Plane prototype completes flight testing

After several years of development DARPA has successfully completed flight-testing of one of the most novel, and odd-looking, aircraft designs we've seen in some time – the sub-scale electric X-Plane.

Aircraft

AW609 tiltrotor climbs towards 2018 certification

After resuming flight testing last April following a fatal crash, the third AW609 tiltrotor aircraft prototype went through several weeks of ground testing and flight trials in Italy. The aircraft has now been shipped to the US, where icing trials are set to take place through winter.

The Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Extended Range (ER) Long Wing has a flight endurance of over 40 hours

Aircraft

Long-endurance Predator drone spreads its wings

In the latest of a long series of upgrades, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has announced the maiden flight of the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper Extended Range (ER) Long Wing.

The 737 MAX takes off from Renton on its maiden test fight

Aircraft

Boeing 737 MAX takes off

The first of the new generation of Boeing 737 MAX airliners to roll of the assembly line made another first today as it took off on its maiden flight.

The Boeing Airplane Company's ecoDemonstrator 757 (Photo: Boeing)

Aircraft

Aerodynamic efficiency target of Boeing ecoDemonstrator 757 flight tests

Boeing is at it again, continuing its on-going ecoDemonstrator test program by ramping up a series of flight tests with a modified 757 airliner. The lengthy tests will assess new methods to advance efficiency, cut noise and lower carbon emissions.

The Zephyr has become the first High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) system to complete a flight authorized by a civil authority

Aircraft

Zephyr UAV continues to break records on first authorized civil flight

The solar-powered UAV previously known as the Qinetiq Zephyr, which is now part of the Airbus High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) programme and called the Airbus Zephyr, has continued it's record-breaking ways in its first civil flight in the skies over Dubai earlier this month.