The SmartFish Project is a coalition of European designers and aviation/aerospace firms. Included are:

Extra (world leader in aerobatic aircraft) for system integration and test flights, Leichtwerk for interpretation statics and dynamics, LTB Borowski for composite manufacturing, Liebherr Aerospace for Landing Gear System development, DLR (German Aerospace Center) for flutter analysis and inlet optimization, RUAG Aerospace for wind tunnel testing, and EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (they did a great job for Alinghi) for overall design optimization. (Thanks to Mike Elgan who featured the SmartFish on aviationblog.com earlier this year).

One of the project leaders (board member) is Claude Nicollier who has been for nearly 30 years a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut of Swiss nationality. He was a member of the first group of ESA as...Read More

Sonex Aircraft LLC’s Sonex, Waiex and Xenos aircraft kits are the first to receive official FAA National Kit Evaluation Team (NKET) checklist acceptance and publication under the newly revised rules governing experimental/amateur-built aircraft.

Sonex Aircraft invited the FAA’s newly formed National Kit Evaluation Team to use Sonex, Waiex and Xenos kits for their practice evaluation exercises, making Sonex Aircraft a natural choice for the NKET’s first official evaluations to follow.

As of March 31, the Sonex, Waiex and Xenos are the first amateur-built kits to be accepted by the FAA under Advisory Circular AC 20-27G, FAA Order 8130.2F, and FAA Order 8130.35.  

NKET evaluation bolsters the pre-existing, grandfathered evaluations of Sonex Aircraft kits. It also updates the acceptance to include the latest Pre-Assembled Main Wing Spar and Machined Angle Component kit upgrades offered by Sonex Aircraft.

In addition, Sonex Aircraft customers can use NK...Read More

With the first shards of daylight glinting off its enormous wings covered with power cells, Solar Impulse HB-SIA rose into the sky over Payerne Switzerland on its second test flight on April 22. The plane is designed to be the first to circle the globe nonstop using only solar power.

During the debriefing of pilot Mark Scherdel, Head of flight test operation Claude Nicollier called the flight a “resounding success.” The objectives of this second flight were to test the plane’s maneuverability in tight, 10-degree turns and to achieve minimum speed at an altitude of 7,000 feet. The two-hour flight demonstrated the craft’s aerodynamic flexibility as well as the maneuverability and controllability at the limits of its speed and bank angles. By systematically mapping the prototype’s flight envelope, the engineering team can make the necessary adjustments in the design of the second plane’s, the one destined to fly around the world.

The plane is powered by wing-mounted propellers, connected to four electric motors, drawing power from its skin of solar cells and its two lightweight storage batteries. With the wingspan of a 747, the craft is engineered to achieve extraordinary efficiency to enable it to either fly at low speeds in sunlight or glide through th...Read More

The US Air Force launched its Orbital Test Vehicle X-37B from Cape Canaveral on the evening of April 22, on a test flight of indeterminate length. The “Mini Shuttle” as it has been nicknamed, is an unmanned combination aircraft/spacecraft, capable of unpowered flights up to 270 days. The NASA shuttle had a maximum mission length of 16 days. Once the mission is complete, the robotic space shuttle will land autonomously.

The exact mission is secret, but most commentators suggested it would include surveillance, support to ground forces, repairs for other USAF space assets, and possibly the ability to destroy other nation’s space assets as well as to attack from space without warning or detection.  Indeed, the flexibility of the orbiter’s functions was a key force behind Boeing’s design.

“This launch helps ensure that our warfighters will be provided the capabilities they need in the future,” said Col. Andre Lovett, vice commander of the 45th Space Wing and the officer who made the firing decision.

Arms control advocates say it is pretty clearly the beginning of a “weaponization of space” – precursor to a precision global strike capability that would allow the US to hover for months at a time over anywhere it chose with little anyone coul...Read More