This is BelugaXL, the next-generation Airbus super transport destined to replace the original Beluga inducted into service in the mid 90s. Based on the Airbus A330-200 Freighter, the BelugaXL touts 30 percent more capacity and 12 percent bump in payload over its predecessor. So, what’s so special about this supersized cargo plane? Obviously, a huge hump on a plane is not new; we have seen it since 1980s (remember the Super Guppy?). Continue reading Airbus BelugaXL Super Transporter Completes Maiden Flight With A Smile
Tag Archives: Aerospace
Opener Unveiled BlackFly Flying Car, But It Really Is An Ultralight Aircraft
According to Wikipedia, a flying car is “a type of personal air vehicle or ‘roadable’ aircraft that provides door-to-door transportation by both ground and air.” So, what really is a flying car? My definition would be a car-like vehicle that flies. Whether or not it is roadable is non-consequential (think Fifth Element). But I guess my definition is not quite the reality because, a flying car is essentially a personal air transportation device as proven by Opener’s BlackFly. Continue reading Opener Unveiled BlackFly Flying Car, But It Really Is An Ultralight Aircraft
Rolls-Royce’s Idea Of Flying Taxi Is One That Has Rotors That Folds Away
Lets face it. The Fifth Element kind of flying cars is not going to realize anytime soon. Instead, you are looking at more conventional “fly cars” such as this one proposed by Rolls-Royce. The aircraft engine maker unveiled this concept personal air transportation at Farnborough Airshow. As you can see, it is a VTOL, short for vertical take-off and landing, and it is electric, hence the acronym EVTOL. Rolls-Royce said its proposed EVTOL could be use as a personal transport, public transport, logistics and adaptable to military applications. Continue reading Rolls-Royce’s Idea Of Flying Taxi Is One That Has Rotors That Folds Away
Airbus Plans To Use This Giant Harpoon To Take Out Space Junk
Every time you look up into the night sky, what do you see? If your answer is ‘stars’ and ‘satellites’, well, you are only partially correct. You see, the thing is, not every shimmering specks in the blackened sky are stars; some of them could be space junk or debris reflecting lights. It is true and it could be more when humans are going to space more often, or sending more stuff up into the still, vacuum space beyond Earth’s atmosphere. You may ask ‘who will trash hundreds of miles from us affect us?’ Well, it won’t… if we never want to step out of this little blue marble. Continue reading Airbus Plans To Use This Giant Harpoon To Take Out Space Junk
Airbus Successfully Demoed Parcel Delivery Drone With NUS
The future of small parcel delivery is no doubt from up above. Amazon has been working hard to realize this and even go as far as pushing a pilot in UK. Several other companies, including DHL, has also embarked on the same path and in the case of DHL, an unmanned drone was used to delivery of medicines and such across great length. However, we have yet to see one that is truly adapted to dense urban environment, until now. Meet Skyways, a collaborative project between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and France’s multinational aerospace giant Airbus that differs from the majority in that it is a complete system featuring automatically loading and unloading via a robotic arm. Now that, my friends, is what we call futuristic! Continue reading Airbus Successfully Demoed Parcel Delivery Drone With NUS
China Offers ‘Affordable’ Counterterrorism Solution With Unmanned Attack Helicopter
It looks like China is a rapidly growing market that not only offers the world affordable alternatives to a myriad of consumers product, but it is now actively vying for a piece of the military hardware pie too. The unmanned attack helicopter, the AV500W, you see here from state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) is one such military hardware aimed at the global market. The AV500W was recently unveiled at the fourth China Helicopter Expo at Tianjin where over 400 helicopter manufacturers and vendors from 22 nations and regions participated. Continue reading China Offers ‘Affordable’ Counterterrorism Solution With Unmanned Attack Helicopter
DeLorean ‘Flying Car’ Is Not The DeLorean You Have Come To Expect
DeLorean did not promised us flying cars, but Back to the Future II sure planted that idea into our head. Since then, companies and individuals have not stop trying to make car fly, which now apparently includes the DeLorean. Wait, what? A flying DeLorean? A very interesting prospect that piqued a BTTF fan like me. But unfortunately, it won’t be the DeLorean DMC-12 that will fly. In fact, John DeLorean, the person responsible for the made-famous-by-movie iconic ride, is not behind this ambitious endeavor. Instead, it is Paul DeLorean, the legend’s nephew, and his startup DeLorean Aerospace, who will be making a flying DeLorean a reality. Continue reading DeLorean ‘Flying Car’ Is Not The DeLorean You Have Come To Expect
The World’s Biggest Aircraft, Stratolaunch, Emerges From Hanger
If you don’t already know, co-founder of Microsoft Paul Allen, has been involved in an interesting aerospace development. The company he is in, Stratolaunch Systems, has built an aircraft called the Stratolaunch Carrier Aircraft that is billed as the world’s biggest aircraft ever built. By the virtue of its non-swept wing wingspan that stretches a cool 385 feet (117 meters! That’s longer than an American Football field!), Stratolaunch’s air-launch platform out wingspan the largest commercial jet, the Airbus A380, which comes in at 80 meters and it even dethrone the previous biggest aircraft, the Hughes H-4 ‘Spruce Goose’ Hercules which has a wingspan of 97.5 meters. Continue reading The World’s Biggest Aircraft, Stratolaunch, Emerges From Hanger
This Is The First “Flying Car” By Larry Page-backed Startup, Kitty Hawk
Another day, another “flying car,” but like the Lilium Jet, this Alphabet’s CEO Larry Page-backed personal flight startup, Kitty Hawk’s first flyer is not quite a flying car. Sorry, I disagree with our source cos’ nowhere in the company’s website did it reference itself as a flying car startup. The Mountain View, California-based company’s mission is to, in its own words, “engineer, design and build safe, fun, easy-to-fly aircraft.” So flying car, it is obviously not. The notion of a flying car is a personal transportation device that flies, possibly at low altitude, and also have the ability to travel on normal roads and likely, can be parked within one’s garage, or any regular parking space. Continue reading This Is The First “Flying Car” By Larry Page-backed Startup, Kitty Hawk
All-electric 300mi Range VTOL “Flying Car” Made Successful Maiden Flight
Ok. The Lilium Jet Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft (VTOL) from Munich-based aviation company, Lilium Aviation, is not quite a flying car; rather, it is a full-fledged electric aircraft, or more specifically, an electric VTOL. Clearly, not the first (NASA was among the first, albeit in scaled form), but it is a baby step for mankind’s dream of an emission-free and possibly, autonomous, personal air transport. Then again, it isn’t the first to pitch the VTOL idea; we have seen a bunch of them and as far as autonomous goes, China’s EHang already have that covered. Continue reading All-electric 300mi Range VTOL “Flying Car” Made Successful Maiden Flight