Plane

Canada's Horizon Aircraft has popped up out of stealth mode with a gorgeous and innovative 5-seat hybrid eVTOL design using a wicked-cool split-wing mechanism to transition between VTOL and horizontal flight, and a totally unique path to market.

Shifting to alternative propulsion technologies could go a long way toward cleaning up the pollution created by the aviation sector, and a new design by MIT scientists could cut as much as 95 percent of a plane’s harmful nitrogen oxide emissions.

Aviation startup Boom Supersonic has unveiled a fully assembled version of its XB-1 demonstrator. Built to break the sound barrier, the sleek aircraft is a one-third-scale prototype of what the company hopes will become the world’s fastest airliner.

Last year we caught wind of an interesting airplane concept called the Flying V. The project has now progressed from renders of a futuristic aircraft to a flight-capable scale model, which was recently shown in action for the very first time.

Otto Aviation claims its bizarre-looking Celera 500L "bullet plane" offers the performance of a small jet using just 1/8th the fuel, for around 1/6th the running costs. The company wants to make private air travel cost as much as an airline ticket.

An electric plane capable of traveling 1,000 km on each charge would be capable of hopping between some pretty exotic destinations. This might sound like a pipe dream, but these distances are firmly in the sights of electric aircraft builders gearing up for test flights within the next few years.

Boeing is lifting another suite of experimental technologies into the air as part of its EcoDemonstrator program. Traveling aboard this time around are 50 projects in all, including ones geared toward smart toilets and others toward improving passengers’ view outside the plane. ​

Aircraft have been known to mess with the clouds as they pass through or over them. A new study has found that planes could be boosting rainfall and snowfall by up to 10 times, and examined the microphysics behind it.

​​The HondaJet is an already impressive piece of aerospace engineering. Now Honda is upping the ante, today announcing the HondaJet Elite, which is claimed to not only fly farther than its competitors, but also fly quieter, with new noise-attenuating technology to keep noise down in the cabin.

​Christiaan van Heijst is an airline pilot with over a decade's experience flying everything from small Turboprops to massive Boeing 747s. He's also a photographer able to capture spectacular images from his privileged perspective at 35,000 ft.

​Pipistrel’s Alpha Electro took to the skies in Australia recently, marking the first time an electric light aircraft was flown in the country. The plane has been designed to be an efficient and cheap pilot training craft and this first flight marks a new frontier for electric aircraft in Australia.

​Back in June, the world’s largest plane emerged from its hangar for the first time. Now the team has crossed another milestone by completing the first round of engine testing, continuing the groundwork needed to get the beast into the air in 2019.