ASAP Aerospace Blog - By Page 16

Mark Huffman, a consumer news reporter for Consumer Affairs, released an article about the future of self-flying aircrafts. Unmanned aerial vehicles or more commonly known as drones, have been a popular item as of recent. Chinese manufacturer Ehang, has launched the world’s first electric personal autonomous aerial vehicle. Ehang put the autonomous aerial vehicle on display during the Consumer Electronics show which grabbed the attention of many visitors. The autonomous aerial vehicle’s presence dominated the carmakers and their earth-bound autonomous vehicles at the event. The autonomous aerial vehicle is called the Ehang 184.

Blue Origin, a spacecraft company founded by Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, just did what SpaceX failed at doing last week and successfully launched and landed a suborbital rocket. Known as New Shepard, the spacecraft reached a maximum altitude of 333,582 feet, which is approximately 63 miles above the Earth's surface, before gently landing back at Blue Origin's test facility located in Texas. Accomplishing this feat makes New Shepard the first commercial vertical rocket to launch into space twice.

The United States Air Force has reached out to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. to standardize and qualify the components used in liquid fueled rockets.

Boeing recently ramped up its production of the space bound CST- 100 Starliner and to get acclimated with the new spacecraft, two of the four NASA astronauts training to fly Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft stopped by the Boeing facility to try some of the systems that will prepare them for flights to the International Space Station.The CST-100 Starliner’s first crew flight test to the space station is expected in 2017 and will be Boeing’s first commercial flight transporting of people to that destination.

North Korea’s nuclear threats and claims have led the U.S to deploy the WC-135 Constant Phoenix to track the origin of any radioactive substances in the area around North Korean alleged hydrogen bomb test zone.  Atmospheric gatherings will be collected by the aircraft to determine whether North Korea’s nuclear test did indeed happen.  The WC- 135 has been flown by flight crews from the 45^th Reconnaissance Squadron from Offutt Air Force Base. Often called by the crew the WC-135 also known as the “sniffer” or “weather bird” is known for its ability to track radioactive activity using filter papers with two scoops on the sides of the fuselage collecting Radioactive Specimens or effluent gasses. The WC-135 has been used to control compliance with nuclear weapon treaties.

Upgrades to the Raytheon-made Patriot Integrated Air and Missile Defense System have proven to be very effective with a recent flight test proving that the they are capable of destroying advanced threats at greater ranges. The test where performed using a Patriot system upgraded with a suite of improvements known as PDB-8 (Post Deployment Build 8) which successfully tracked and engaged a ballistic missile target with PAC-3 MSE missiles.

Airbus and Aerion recently got the thumbs up on putting together a master piece known as the AS2 jet plane; traveling at supersonic speeds. The manufacturing location is not yet decided by Aerion and Airbus but is hoped by both companies to be established in the US according to Bloomberg Business. With estimated times for test flights and commercial traveling commencing in the year 2021 to 2023, this private jet is designed to have a 30 ft. cabin and feature wings that will reduce approximately 20 percent of drag.

Epic Aircraft’s E1000 prototype has successfully completed its first test flight, setting the course for the company to begin deliveries. The aircraft, valued at $2.95 million, should ready for delivery in the next year. The Oregonian manufacturers completed a big step towards getting certification for their single-engine turboprop with their successful maiden voyage. The aim of the project is to have it be the fastest single engine civil aircraft in the world. The first successful flight for the plane nicknamed “FT1” took place on December 19th at Bend Municipal Airport in Deschutes County. Chief Pilot David Robinson took it for a twenty minute test run, and gave it a glowing review. The experienced flyer reported that it handled extremely well, just as he expected it to. Officials at Epic were just as delighted to meet their deadline of getting the plane off the ground by the end of the year.

Italy’s Finmeccanica group is beginning 2016 under a new unified structure, one that has ended its long-standing structure of being a holding group consisting of multiple separately controlled businesses. On January 1st 2016, the restructured company implemented a reorganization process originally launched by CEO and general manager Mauro Moretti in June 2014.

 On January 4, 2016 Airbus has announced that the first delivery of the A320neo will be delayed due to problems and conflicts that are occurring with the plane.