On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright took their famous first flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. After four years of experimentation, the brothers became the first to fly a "heavier-than-air machine with a pilot on board." This article, which details the birth of the flying machine, was written...
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/wright-brothers-and-birth-airplane?dom=tw&src=SOC
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Opinion: Bezos's 'Crazy' UAS Idea Serves Us Well
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People focused on the potential benefits of autonomous vehicles
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Sikorsky's Rotor Blown Wing -- Look Familiar?
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Unmanned Rotor Blown Wing (Concept: Sikorsky)
When I first saw Sikorsky's Unmanned Rotor Blown Wing concept for DARPA'S VTOL X-Plane program, it reminded me of something. But I couldn't remember what, so I sought expert help. And the answer? It's Boeing's Heliwing - a tailsitter VTOL unmanned aircraft that flew, briefly, in 1995.
Heliwing (Photo: Boeing)
Heliwing was funded by the Pentagon's UAV Joint Program Office (remember that?). It was a 17ft-span, 1,450lb gross-weight UAV with two 7ft-diameter proprotors powered by a single 240shp Williams WTS117 turboshaft. The Heliwing was intended to reach 180kt in forward flight and carry a 200lb payload for 5hr. The sole example first flew in April 1995, but crashed in July when the engine flamed out and the program was shelved.
Sikorsky is working on conceptual and preliminary design of the Unmanned Rotor Blown Wing with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works under a 22-month, $14.4 million VTOL X-Plane Phase 1 contract. DARPA is expected to award up to four Phase 1 contracts. Aurora Flight Sciences has one, but isn't saying what its design looks like. And Boeing is tipped to get one for its Phantom Swift ducted-fan design (seen below). DARPA plans to pick one design to fly in 2017.
Phantom Swift subscale model (Photo: Boeing)
DARPA's goal for VTOL X-Plane is to fly a demonstrator capable of 300-400kt forward speed, but with a high hover efficiency (within 25% of ideal power loading) in vertical flight and high cruise efficiency (lift-to-drag ratio better than 10) in horizontal flight. In seeking proposals, the agency said it was looking for simplicity and elegance in design and encouraged innovative proposals and not simply improvements to existing designs.
Sikorsky isn't saying much about the Rotor Blown Wing concept except to confirm what the artist's impression strongly suggests -- it is a tailsitter like the Heliwing. The name suggests the wing remains aligned into the proprotor wash throughout transition between vertical and forward. That would reduce download on the wing in hover mode. But details beyond the five-blade proprotors and lack of horizontal tails are scarce.
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Airbus destina 300 millones anuales a mejorar y modernizar la familia A320
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Video: vuelo de prueba del tercer prototipo del novedoso helicóptero ruso Mi-38 – RT en Español – Noticias internacionales
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RT en Español – Noticias internacionales Video: vuelo de prueba del tercer prototipo del novedoso helicóptero ruso Mi-38RT en Español – Noticias internacionalesEl consorcio ruso Vertolioty Rossii (Helicópteros de Rusia) ha publicado en su página web el video del primer vuelo de prueba del tercer prototipo del nuevo helicóptero medio de la compañía Mil: Mi-38. El [...]
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Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Ireland to close
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Lufthansa Technik AG will close its Dublin-based jet engine overhaul facility Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Ireland (LTAI) after it could find no rescue solution.
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Textron Buys Beech... $1.4 Billion Christmas Purchase
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Beech Remains An American Company... Sigh Of Relief Heard All The Way From Kansas Well... its official -- a number of media reports have confirmed that Scott Donnelly and Textron have pulled the trigger and bought Beechcraft, less than a year after the GA and BizAv planemaker emerged from bankruptcy with the intention to retool itself as a piston and turbine manufacturer -- and get out of the jet business. Wichita seems to be breathing easier, amid concerns that other suitors, mostly Embraer or Mahindra (or worse, an unnamed Chinese player), might have wound up with the company and created even more uncertainty for the local employment scene than there had been already.
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Cathay orders 21 777-9Xs
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Cathay Pacific has placed an order for 21 Boeing 777-9X aircraft, with deliveries to take place between 2021 and 2024.
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Low Cost, 3D Printed UAV Test Bed - ENGINEERING.com
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Low Cost, 3D Printed UAV Test Bed
ENGINEERING.com
UAV, Area-i, flight, control, tersts 3D Printing firm Solid Concepts has partnered with aerospace engineering firm Area-I to create a scale model of a 737 used to simulate real-world aerodynamics. Named the Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research ...
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