Technology

Embraer Unveils eVTOL Design at Uber Elevate Summit

Embraer unveiled a stunning futuristic eVTOL concept for Uber’s metropolitan air taxi program. Uber is holding its Uber Elevate Summit this week at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, where industry leaders are discussing the future of metropolitan air transportation. Two well-established GA manufacturers, Slovenia’s Pipistrel and Brazil’s Embraer, revealed conceptual eVTOL designs at this…

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Pop.Up Next: The next evolution in urban mobility is here

Italdesign and Airbus have unveiled the latest evolution in the Pop.Up concept, the first fully electric and zero-emission modular system designed to help resolve traffic congestion in large urban areas. While the concept was first introduced in the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, Italdesign has introduced the next evolution of Pop.Up concept at the 2018 Geneva…

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Airbus, Rolls, Siemens Teamed for Electric Aircraft

Airbus E Fan X hybrid-electric

Airbus E Fan X hybrid-electric demonstrator aircraft The E-Fan X concept involves a turboshaft engine running on jet fuel, powering a generator that fuels an electric engine — and stores surplus energy in a series of batteries that provide reserve power for take-offs and landings. Partnership aims to develop E-Fan X — a flight demonstrator…

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Lilium Brings On Talent From Tesla, Airbus, & Gett To Build On-Demand Air Taxi

Lilium VTOL Pic1

The futuristic dream of ‘air taxis’ has taken another step closer to becoming a reality. Every day, the race to create a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), all-electric vehicle is heating up. We recently announced how DeLorean Aerospace are moving forward with their own vehicle, and in our flying car guide we highlight some of…

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Would you fly in a pilotless commercial plane if it meant a cheaper airline ticket?

Boeing expands pilot training network

The world’s aviation industry will need to train and deploy more than 600,000 new pilots over the next 20 years. But, then again, the industry might be operating fleets of commercial jets flown by remote control. Those are the seemingly contradictory outlooks described in separate reports by aerospace giant Boeing and Swiss banking powerhouse UBS…

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Flight Innovation – Airbus

Airbus Flight Innovation

Pilotless aircraft, flying electric vehicles and bespoke air cabins are the future of flight, Airbus said yesterday. Paul Eremenko, the European plane-maker’s chief technological officer, painted a picture of skies buzzing with new flight forms at the RISE tech conference held in Hong Kong. Airbus is already testing out what it calls a “module” cabin…

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Airbus A380 superjumbo could be even larger, with bigger wings

British Airways A380

The Airbus A380 superjumbo may sprout extended wings as the European manufacturer intensifies studies into the addition of curved extensions aimed at reducing drag and boosting efficiency. The so-called winglets, which on the A380 would each measure as much as 5 meters, could reduce fuel burn by up to 4 percent by dissipating the vortexes…

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Boeing Announces Study for Self-Flying Airliners

Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 Cockpit

Boeing has announced that it is going to begin studying autonomous flying technologies that could eventually be implemented in passenger airliners, according to Reuters . “The basic building blocks of the technology clearly are available,” said Mike Sinnett, Boeing‘s vice president of product development. The announcement comes a week and a half before the annual…

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Russia squares up to Boeing and Airbus with maiden flight of jet

Russian MC-21

Irkut Corporation/EPA carried out the maiden flight of its new MS-21 medium-range passenger aircraft on Sunday, its first post-Soviet foray into production of a mainline commercial aircraft which it hopes will rival those of its western competitors. In a surprise statement, manufacturer Irkut Corporation and its state-controlled parent company United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) said an…

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No-one mentions elephant in sky in ‘new’ Aerion SST ‘development’

Aerion AS2

The main disappointment of the week when it comes to aviation advances was the half-baked reporting of claimed ‘assistance’ for the very long running Aerion as2 supersonic corporate jet ‘successor’ to the defunct Concorde from the engine designer and maker GE.  Even Bloomberg went soft on this. In this report it says the as2 is…

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The hybrid plane : Boeing and JetBlue back hybrid-electric craft

Zunum-Aero-3-planes

Boeing and JetBlue have turned their sights to hybrid-electric planes. The two aviation giants revealed this week that they are investing in a little-known company called Zunum Aero , a startup developing alternative propulsion aircraft. Zunum is working to build 10-50 seat planes that ‘sip fuel only when they have to,’ and the firm claims…

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Embraer Flies the E195-E2, the Most Efficient New-Generation Jet in the World, Ahead of Schedule

Embraer Flies the E195-E2, the Most Efficient New-Generation Jet in the World, Ahead of Schedule

 Ten months after the first flight of the E190-E2, today Embraer performed the inaugural flight of another member of the E2 family, ahead of schedule. This Wednesday, the E195-E2, the largest aircraft of the family–and the most efficient aircraft in the single aisle jet market—took off for the first time. The flight, originally scheduled for…

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Airbus to run parcel-delivery drone trial in Singapore

Airbus Parcel Delivery Drone

AVIATION giant Airbus said it will reveal more details “in the coming months” about an unmanned parcel-delivery drone trial in Singapore, one that could be extended to transporting passengers too. Its comments come a day after the city-state’s Ministry of Transport told The Business Times that it is talking to some firms about trying out…

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Is this the future of personal transport in big cities?

Airbus Pop.Up

The Geneva Motor Show has been the place to see the latest innovations in automotive technology since 1905. To no-one’s surprise, the 87th show has been awash with autonomous and zero-emissions offerings from the biggest names in the global car industry. Less predictable was the preview of a self-driving zero-emissions flying car concept. Designed by…

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Italdesign, Airbus prepping drone-carried flying car concept for Geneva

Italdesign, Airbus prepping drone-carried flying car concept for Geneva

The famous styling house Italdesign and jetliner maker Airbus are reportedly taking a new stab at imagining the old idea of the flying car, according to Automotive News Europe. Rather than making the vehicle itself capable of going airborne, drones would allegedly be able to pick up the body for carrying occupants away from traffic.…

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