Tiltrotor

Although numerous companies are now developing "air taxis," many of those groups have nothing but renderings of their aircraft. Switzerland's Dufour Aerospace, however, recently completed the first phase of testing of a large-scale demonstrator.

Autonomous Systems researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated another drone capable of flying and hovering in any orientation, this time with higher efficiency. It's extraordinary to watch its 12 coaxial rotors twisting and turning in flight.

The latest variant of the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft recently completed its maiden flight. Designed to replace the US Navy's C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft, the CMV-22B Osprey will be used to transport high-priority cargoes for carrier fleets.

Having made a splash with smaller drones built for simple selfie-snapping flights in the immediate vicinity, Zero Zero Robotics is back and this time it's thinking big, with a V-shaped "bicopter" that can fly for 50 minutes at a time.

Merging two cutting-edge technologies, Lockheed Martin flew its Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor system aboard a Bell V-280 Valor last month. The multi-functional sensor system collects high-resolution images from around the aircraft, providing the flight crew with a 360-degree view.

​If they really are to be considered "cars," flying cars will require at least two things: tires for driving on the road, and propellers for flying through the air. Goodyear has combined the two into one unit – or actually into four units – with its Aero concept.

Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor combat aircraft lived up to its name on Wednesday as it pegged the speedometer at a true airspeed of 280 knots (322 mph, 518 km/h), or twice that of conventional rotorcraft. The flight took place at the company's Flight Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

Bell Helicopter's V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft has taken to the skies for the first time. The December 18 flight at the company's Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas​ comes only a little over two months after the prototype made its first tethered flight at the same location.

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 awesome Joby S2 operates like a 2-seater manned multicopter drone, that takes off and lands vertically but converts to a fixed wing by folding away its tilting rotors for long-range, high speed commuting.

When we laid eyes on the Elytron 2S tiltrotor plane prototype last year at the EAA's fly-in airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, it was a half-built concept with only part of its Prandtl wing box installed. The company has now completed the airframe ahead of planned flight tests later this year.

UK-based 4x4 Aviation has conceived a hybrid VTOL cargo plane dubbed the VV (Versatile Vehicle)-Plane that is fitted with electric, tiltable, ducted fans and will be able to carry truck-sized loads at nearly 200 mph (320 km/h).