The World of Aviation

An unmanned Boeing A160T Hummingbird has successfully demonstrated its ability to meet the US Marine Corp’s vertical unmanned resupply capability requirement during a demonstration in Utah on March 9-11. Boeing says the A160T met or exceeded all of the USMC’s requirements, including delivering at least 1250kg of cargo from one simulated forward-operating base to another

An Airnorth Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia crashed shortly after taking off from Darwin Airport on March 22, killing the two pilots. The aircraft, VH-ANB MSN 116, took off on a training flight shortly after 10am, before it was seen crashing into bush near RAAF Darwin. Pilots Shane Whitbread and Greg Seymon were they only occupants of

Robert White, the first pilot to exceed Mach 4, Mach 5 and Mach 6, and still the fastest pilot to ever fly a powered aircraft, has died at his home in Orlando, Florida, aged 82. In 1961, White, then a USAF test pilot, took the Rockwell X-15 rocket plane beyond the milestone speeds in the

EADS has confirmed that it is re-assessing its earlier decision to not bid as a prime contractor on the USAF’s long running KC-X tanker replacement program after the Pentagon said it would consider an extension to the bid deadline. In a March 19 statement EADS said it “is assessing this new situation to determine if

Boeing has completed ground effect and flutter testing on the 787, moving it closer to achieving Type Inspection Authorisation. “We tested at a variety of altitudes, speeds and fuel loads on ZA001,” explained Boeing’s vice president of sales and marketing Randy TInseth in a blog post. “During the testing, we saw altitudes above 43,000ft, dive

Auckland International Airport has released its passenger traffic figures for February, showing a surge in domestic traffic, while international traffic also showed strong growth. Domestic traffic through the airport increased by 10.8 per cent for the month, which was attributed to Jetstar replacing Qantas’s domestic services, while domestic movements increased by 0.5 per cent. International