Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo Completes Glide Flight

It looks as though they also did a ground test firing of the rocket motor on the same day.  This brings us a couple of steps closer to the birth of a new industry.  Will they make a powered flight by the end of the year?  Passengers next year?

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=37626

Boeing and NASA Team up Again on HWB X-48

The C-Model will have two low-bypass engines and is to begin testing in the near future.  This one also appears to be fixed-gear, so with the "wrong" gear and the "wrong" engines, odds are the focus will remain low-speed handling qualities.

http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3A27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3Ad9451693-fdd3-47b3-9639-1656b5b0aac0

FlyNano Ultralight Amphibian Takes to the Air

The Finnish company has achieved first flight on a tiny aircraft that could be quite a success if it can do all the things they are hoping it will do.  A few more details are available at the link below.

http://www.gizmag.com/flynano-first-flight-video/22968/

Gulfstream G650 Mishap Causal Factors Continue to Emerge

Gulfstream is amazingly candid in the link below regarding some of the causal factors for last year's G650 flight test mishap.  The information in the link is truly a set of "lessons re-learned" for future testers and deserves a review.  I suspect more complete details will be available when the NTSB report is finally released.

http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2012-06-08/fatal-flight-detailed

Boeing PhantomEye UAV Begins Flight Test

That big lakebed out in the Antelope Valley continues to be the go-to location for large UAV testing.  The link below carries very little details about the test objectives or results, but the video clip is interesting.  The plane launched from a dolly and once airborne had no visible landing gear.  Presumably it lands on a set of retractable skids as shown in an early concept drawing, but that's only a guess.  What I found interesting was that there was no discernable movement of the horizontals prior to liftoff.  That tells me that the plane was already trimmed for takeoff and some kind of downlocks were simply released to initiate the launch.

(Art Credit: Boeing, via coolnewstuff.com)

http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/pilotless-aircraft/first-test-flight-for-mega-drone/1674586993001/

Solar Impulse Flight Trials Expand

This time the huge single-seater has flown from Europe to Africa, partly in daylight and partly at night.  Ultimately, this is a propulsion system test program, but hidden behind that are some serious human-factors issues that will need to be solved for it all to work.  Is this really going to be a UAV with a person aboard?

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/green/solar-plane-completes-intercontinental-test-flight/21359

SNC Dreamchaser Spaceplane Gets Airborne... Sort of

Every flight test program has to start somewhere.  This was apparently an unmanned captive carry flight test of aerodynamic characteristics before the eventual first free flight.  Will that flight be manned, a la SpaceShipOne, or unmanned, as was the Dragon?  Time will tell.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47649718/ns/technology_and_science-space/