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Wisk Cora eVTOL To Start Tests With Real Passengers
The latest development with Wisk's Cora eVTOL is that they are looking to commence testing with real passengers. Many of the eVTOLs experimental aircraft are testing the aircraft but not with actual live payload in it. Recently the New Zealand Government and Wisk signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding). All of this is still fresh and there is no word on how many passengers the aircraft will be tested with or even when the live passenger trials will begin...
Wright Electric Goes Green
The Wright Plane, Right Now...
Wright Electric announced today the start of its electric propulsion development program for its flagship 186 seat electric aircraft, named Wright 1. In order to achieve the commercial flight capability of the Wright 1, a 186 seat electric aircraft, Wright is engineering electrical systems at the megawatt scale by building a 1.5 MW electric motor and inverter at 3 kilovolts. These components will form the powerplant of Wright’s revolutionary Wright 1 aircraft and pave the way for a future of zero emissions flight worldwide...The Wright Plane, Right Now...
Air Ambulance Role For Learjet 75
The newest iteration of the Learjet 75 by Bombardier - the 75 Liberty- is generally thought of as an executive aircraft and that is correct, it will mostly be used in executive roles. However, Bombardier recently received an order for two of these aircraft which will be used in the Air Ambulance role...
Embraer Phenom 300E Upgraded; Fastest Single-Pilot Jet
Embraer announced today the new enhancements to its already very-well received Phenom 300 series, the Phenom 300E. Many of the enhancements are on the interior but also to the performance of the aircraft. In fact, the Phenom 300E is now the first single-piloted jet to reach Mach 0.80...
Cessna Citation Longitude EIS In Time For Last Quarter Boost
The first NetJets bound Cessna Citation Longitude that was delivered to fractional owenership operator in late 2019 but Textron Aviation/Cessna's delivery figures looked much better in the last quarter of 2019 thanks to at least 12 Longitudes being shipped in that quarter. Overall Cessna delivered 71 executive jets to customers in the fourth quarter which was better than the 63 in Q4 of 2018...
Gulfstrean Posts Astounding 2019 Performance
Gulfstream posted the second best quarter ever which translated as the best quarter in ten years for the General Dynamics company. This is the last quarter of 2019 we are talking about and it represented good for the executive aircraft manufacturer. the fourth quarter sales rose by approximately 54 percent. 147 shipments of business jets were made in 2019 which were broken down into 114 large cabin and 33 midsize cabin aircraft which surpassed the delivery guidance by two aircraft...
Stratos 716X Development Well Underway
Another Very Light Jet (VLJ) that is in development at the moment and quietly so is the Stratos 716X. This aircraft has been steadily moving forward with its development having completed load-testing and now in the phas of assembling the first working aircraft prototype for flight testing. The first flight is carded for the second-half of 2020. It is essentially a slightly larger version of the Stratos 714 'proof-of-concept'. The Stratos 716X is wider in the cabin and will seat six in its carbon fiber structure...
All-Electric Eviation Alice Suffers A Fire
It is unclear the extent of the damage to the first Eviation Alice all-electric prototype aircraft due to a ground based fire. It appears that the fire broke out during ground testing at the Prescott Regional Airport in Arizona. The fire is said to have been caused by a fault with a ground based battery system that happened on January 22nd...
Early 2021 For SyberJet SJ30i Deliveries To Commence
It looks as though SyberJet is pressing ahead with the work they have to do in relation to the newest iteration of their SyberJet, the SJ30i or version 2.0...
Boom Supersonic Joins Flight Research For XB-1 Flight Tests
Boom Supersonic is heating up the supersonic race tangibly. Now they have joined forces with Flight Research (FRI) which is a US training support and services company. They will work with them to test the Boom Supersonic's XB-1 Flight demonstrator in the supersonic corridor of the Mojave Desert. Boom is using the so-called XB-1 as a scaled-down version of the final aircraft which will be much larger and called Overture...
Learjet 70/75 Now Able To Have G5000 Upgrade
The Learjet 70/75 is now able to have its flight deck upgraded to the Garmin G5000 suite thanks to certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). New Learjet 70 and 75s will come with the G5000 from the factory but those that are in service already can have it as a retrofit/upgrade. This will naturally come as standard for the newest announced iteration of the 75, the 75 Liberty...
French To Use Falcon 8X As Special Missions Platform
The Dassault Falcon 8X is the current flagship of the Falcon family of business jets. The French Armed Forces - French Armament General Directorate (DGA), is looking to acquire three of these jets not for a VIP role but modified for their special missions purposes. Specifically, for Signal Intelligence duties (SIGINT). Below is a rendering of how the Falcon 8X would look as modified for this role...
Daher Shipments Fall In 2019 Overall
Daher Socata has been known for pushing-out alot of single-engine turboprops across their line by the end of a particular year. In 2018, Daher delivered 50 TBM aircraft. Compare that to 48 TBMs handed over in 2019 by the company. 2019's results are the first results since Daher made the acquisition of Quest Aircraft and therefore their Kodiak aircraft has to be added to the delivery tally. In 2019 Daher shipped 20 Kodiak Series II turboprops which is slightly down from the 23 they delivered in 2018. Overall Daher shipped combined between the TBM family and the Kodiak family, 68 units in 2019, compared to 73 in 2018...
Toyota Invests In Joby Aviation eVTOL
Automotive manufacturer Toyota is dipping its tentacles into the eVTOL market place with its investment into Joby Aviation's eVTOL. Toyota's role will be to aid the manufacturing process, quality control as well as expense control for the developmental process as well as production later on. With Toyota onboard it will bring the funding for Joby Aviation to over 700 million dollars at this point...
NetJets Takes First Citation Longitude
NetJets is pleased to have taken delivery of their first Citation Longitude executive jet that they have on order from Textron Aviation brand, Cessna. The aircraft was formerly handed over to the fractional ownership company on December 31, 2019. Customer service with the new jet will actually take place later this quarter. This is the start of a very large order for this aircraft type that NetJets made back in 2018 for as many as 175 if they were to exercise all options...
Bell eVTOL Sheds Two Engines; Goes Fully Electric
The eVTOL project that Bell has been working on has changed in propulsion design slightly. The Bell Nexus 4EX -as it is called now-, will have four rotor ducts instead of six and be fully electric. It appears the move was spurred by performance and aerodynamics. Six fans would potentially provide more drag and lesser efficiency...
2019 Falcon Deliveries Remain Flat
French airframer Dassault Falcon 2019 deliveries remains flat as they did not do much better than for the year 2018. For the year 2019 the airframer shipped 40 business jets which was one less than the previous year. They expected to have delivered 45 Falcons in the year but that did not materialize. It is anticipated that Dassault Falcon will release the full results next month...
NASA Ready To Move Forward With Final Assembly Of X-59 QueSST
The X-59 QueSST (Quiet Super Sonic Technology) is ready to move on to the next phase of development, which is Final Assembly. The major product review of the pending aircraft was held in mid December 2019 and looks to be green-lighted to move into the physical final assembly of the X-59 QueSST. They will then meet again around the same time towards the end of this year to evaluate the first flight in 2021...
Cessna SkyCourier Spared After Explosion
A few days ago a massive explosion rocked one of the facilities of the Wichita-based Cessna. The building that was affected housed assembly of the new SkyCourier that Textron/Cessna has under development. Reports are now suggesting that despite the severity of the blast, the SkyCourier was not affected. The explosion sent 11 persons to the hospital while others were treated on the scene...
AC04 AW609 Lifts Off Marking Final Stretch To Certification
We here at JF normally do not cover helicopters but the AW609 is a bit of both worlds as a tilt-rotor. The AW609 is inching closer and closer to certification with the flight of the fourth test article which would be more representative of a production aircraft. The AW609 is the civilian tilt-rotor but many will be familiar with the recognizable V-22 Osprey in use with the U.S armed forces which uses similar system...
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