PW-1524G PurePower Engine Flies on 747 Testbed

June 20th apparently saw the first flight of Pratt & Whitney's new geared turbofan engine.  Bombardier is hanging their CSeries - a whole new vehicle - on the suitability of this engine, so these flights are going to be a big deal for both Pratt and Bombardier.  So far, so good... more when we know more...

http://www.montrealgazette.com/CSeries+program+future+rides+engine/5003445/story.html

Spaceship Two Makes 14th Gliding Flight

I guess as long as the FAA N-Number registry lists the plane as a glider without an engine we'll have to keep waiting for the first powered flight.  I wonder how rapidly those records are updated...

http://www.space.com/12073-spaceshiptwo-virgin-galactic-private-spacecraft-test-flights.html

Puma Mk2 from Eurocopter Makes First Flight

(Photo Credit: Eurocopter)



With engine and avionics upgrades, customers are hoping that the newer model will have improved survivability and payload.  The flight reportedly went off as planned.

http://www.defpro.com/news/details/25740/?SID=1680411d792a52ffa87d8baebda99e76

787-9 Laminar Flow Work?

Boeing is apparently aiming to reduce horizontal tail drag by 1% with a new design.  Anybody besides me starting to think that we're approaching some kind of asymptote on the efficiency of "Tube and Wing" aircraft configurations?

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/06/17/358123/boeing-tests-hybrid-laminar-flow-control-for-787-9.html

X-51 Unstart May be Blessing in Disguise

After getting boosted out to start speed and separating cleanly, the aircraft failed to come up to full operation on JP-7.  The good news is that instrumentation and telemetry were working as advertised, so we may soon know a lot more than ever on how a scramjet actually lights and what it takes to correct it when it doesn't.  Stay tuned!

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/x51a_hypersonic_scramjet_test_204828-1.html

EA-18G / AARGM Captive Carry

Not as glamorous as Hi-AOA, not as hazardous as Flutter, but somebody has to be the one who first takes the store airborne, and the fact is that you can't get the air defense suppression mission done without something to threaten the emitters with, whether photons, digital worms, or high explosives.  (I tend to go for the latter, but that's just an old Phantom Driver talking, so it's basically hot air.)

http://www.defpro.com/news/details/25408/?SID=4175da43917261dfcdc8e9de2787e81f

F-35 Test Update

There is a lot going on.  This regular release provides a pretty complete rundown: new tops speeds, more VTOL experience, longer missions...  You can check it out at the link below.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lockheed-martin-f-35-program-flight-test-update-123844409.html

Sikorsky X-2 First Flight "Lookback"

This is based on old news (the flight was months ago and has led to the Collier Trophy) but of all recent blogs this one is perhaps most worth reading if you're a flight test professional.  It puts a personal face on that big first flight, and just reading it gets your blood pumping.

Go Rotorheads!

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/06/kevin-bredenbeck-sikorsky-x2/

747-8 Test Status

Flight test resources are extremely expensive, so it is no surprise that Boeing has made an effort to tailor their test fleet to get the most out of each airframe.  This article not only gives a bit of a status report on the current test program, but contains some very interesting structural and aeroelastic history behind earlier versions of the 747.  If you thought that intake ovalization in the early days was the only big problem, take a look at the link below.  Once again, the flight controls folks are the cavalry.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/06/14/357616/boeing-plans-latter-stages-of-747-8-test-programme.html

EAA Bleriot XI Makes First Flight

I love efforts like this.  A group of people has reached back into history to re-enact a 1909 flight test, and it reminds us again how difficult those early pioneers had it.  After five years of volunteer work the plane recently flew.

Way to go!

http://www.eaa.org/news/2011/2011-06-06_bleriot.asp

C-130 Gets New Brakes

With a six-fold increase in brake life and better stopping distances, this sounds like a no-brainer.  On top of that, it appears that he system has already been tested on the J-Model, so it should be relatively low risk technically.  That said, somebody's still got to go out there and slam on the brakes at max GW and max abort speed.  Have fun!

http://media-newswire.com/release_1151909.html

Airbus C-295 AEW Variant First Flight

With a dome above very similar in appearance to AWACS, this Airbus medium tactical transport looks at home in the Airborne Early Warning role.  Initial pilot reports are that the airplane flew as expected in it's first flight yesterday out of Seville, Spain.

http://www.defpro.com/news/details/25182/?SID=fc8ec5223f8f27d7131f81187a526aad

Airbus eGenius Electric Airplane

Looks like Airbus is sponsoring an all-electric GA aircraft that has just begun flight test.  Several other electric aircraft are also linked from the site.  The plane appears to be based on a production motorglider or sailplane, but if so it is heavily modified.  Layout is similar to the Windex 1200C, but with a low horizontal rather than a T-tail.
http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/06/airbus-electric-airplane-concept-makes-first-flight/

HEAT 1X Reached about 2.8 km

I wonder what kind of g-loads the occupant is expected to experience on the way to the target altitude?  A few assumptions and back-of-an-envelope calculations lead me to guess perhaps 8.  That level is beyond the limit of most untrained people to tolerate, but probably within tolerance thresholds for a trained and properly equipped person.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/news-latest/51762-bornholm-rocket-flies-high.html

F-35 Software Shows Promise

Now is when it starts to get tougher.  As systems testing goes into high gear the real dragons will be hiding in the code, not the circuit boards or hydraulic actuators.  Lockheed-Martin seems to feel that they've got a handle on it.  Of course it's their job to be optimistic in public and pessimistic in private.  If the schedule holds, then they were right, if it starts to drag, my money is on software as the most likely culprit.  Stay tuned!

http://www.ainonline.com/news/single-news-page/article/lockheed-martin-chief-offers-f-35-mea-culpa-plus-optimism-29967/

HEAT1X Gets off the pad

Still no hint what altitude was reached, but the team seems happy in this link.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/news-latest/51762-bornholm-rocket-flies-high.html

What is on board for life-support?

A-400M Flight Test Stable Completed

Ship 6 (or is it 5?) rounds out the flight test fleet as tests accelerate.  Future airframes will all be production versions.  A good rundown of what has been accomplised to date can be seen near the end of the link below.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/airbus-military-and-its-south-african-partners-start-production-ramp-up-for-a400m-as-flight-tests-go-well-2011-06-03

Danish HEAT 1X To go Sub-Orbital

How much did it cost to build this man-rated suborbital space vehicle, including booster and capsule?  Take a guess, then visit the link below.

(Photo Credit: demotix.com)

http://www.demotix.com/news/712645/danish-rocket-scheduled-be-launched-friday-copenhagen

Granted, it was done by volunteers, but jeez!  Here's where you hope that the old saying about getting what you pay for has exceptions.  Let's see how the first flight goes!

Hawker 200 Certification Testing Accelerates

With the addition of a fourth test aircraft, it looks like Beechcraft is ready to step up the pace on FAA certification flight testing.

http://blogs.kansas.com/aviation/2011/06/01/hawker-200-pre-production-plane-makes-first-flight/