Helicopters

Huge props to these two helicopter test pilots, who have white-knuckled it through one of the most harrowing experiences in rotorcraft flight – an unpowered autorotation emergency landing – allowing an autonomous system to take the controls.

Airbus Helicopters' new FlightLab flying laboratory is already yielding results, successfully testing a fly-by-wire system for Airbus’ CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL prototype that reduces the primary flight controls to a single joystick.

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.

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.

After over two months of silence, NASA has been able to reestablish contact with its wayward Ingenuity robotic helicopter on Mars after radio transmissions were blocked by a hill. This marks what is now the official end of flight 52.

The Airbus'VSR700 robotic helicopter has successfully completed sea tests under operational conditions, including fully autonomous take-offs and landings in strong gale force wind conditions, from a civilian ship's helicopter deck.

The first aircraft to fly on another planet has hit a new milestone. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has recently clocked up its 50th flight, and achieved a new altitude record in the process.

Elbit America recently showed off its X-Sight Helmet Display (HMD) system to customers in Huntsville, Alabama to showcase how the bug-eyed visor can provide helicopter pilots tactical displays and 360-degree super-vision.

The US Air Force has awarded Boeing a US$285-million contract to build the first 13 MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters to replace the venerable Bell UH-1N Huey multi-role helicopter fleet that guards America's land-based nuclear ballistic missiles.

Britain's Arc Aero Systems, formerly Samad Aerospace, has put forth its vision for a "cost-effective, low-carbon solution to intercity travel." The hybrid Linx P9 promises to beat comparably sized helicopters on range, speed and operating cost.

We've all seen footage of disaster victims being hoisted into helicopters, in litter-type stretchers. It's not a good thing if those litters start spinning or swaying, though, which is what the thrust-vectoring Vita Rescue System is designed to stop.

The line between crewed and uncrewed aircraft has blurred even more after a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter carried out a demonstration cargo mission as well as a medical "emergency rescue" entirely on its own without anyone aboard or human guidance.