Embraer Legacy 500 Maiden Flight

Embraer looks at this aircraft as a game-changer in business aviation, perhaps even to the degree that Gulfstream hopes to make a similar change with their future supersonic bizjet.  I tend to agree, if only to acknowledge that fly-by-wire opens up a lot of doors to navigation, flying qualities, and even failure mitigation, that are a lot harder with other systems.  There is little details on the first flight, but a video put out by the company implies that the gear came up and a larger-than-typical portion of the planned envelope was explored on the first flight.  As happens so often, FlightGlobal had a very early story.

http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/forums/embraer-legacy-500-makes-flawless-first-flight-90660.aspx

Chinese J-15 Lands on Aircraft Carrier

This was certainly a high-pucker-factor series of tests.  As usual, there is not a lot of detail in the article, but the video shows a few interesting features.  On short final, the plane is shown making fairly large pitch excursions on the strength of the large horizontals.  It's not clear whether or not the pitch control in that shot, which seemed a bit "loose" for comfortable carrier ops, was actually taken as the plane came aboard, or if that was from another pass.  The ski-jump takeoff seemed to go smoothly, with the plane sustaining what looked like a 10-to-15 degree climb angle, but there is no way to tell what the gross weight was during that sequence.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1090483/china-announces-successful-flight-test-aircraft-carrier-it-unveils-new

F-35A Begins AMRAAM Integration Flights

The F-35 continues its gradual morph from being a new aircraft to being a new weapon system.

http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123327065

Lockheed Martin F-16 Tests Auto-GCAS

As the article mentions, testing on ground collision avoidance systems has been going on for a while, but we are now talking about being operational in less than two years.  Having lost half a dozen friends to CFIT, my input is that it's about time!

http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123327065

Lockheed Martin F-35 High AOA Test Video

Not a lot of technical details in this youtube clip, but some fun video and commentary.  Looks like a nice stable pass at some AOA in excess of 20 degrees.  Given the tail configuration very similar to  the F-18, I would expect it to be capable of pretty worry-free maneuvering well in excess of 30 or 35 degrees eventually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfWHHuLILs0

Boeing's Subscale X-48C Reaches Test Milestone

An earlier version with three engines and winglet-style vertical tails has given way to a twin-engined version with a more conventional tail configuration.  The tails are reminiscent of planes like the A-10, whose design was intended to shield the engine exhaust and reduce the plane's infra-red signature.  As it turns out, the same configuration can deflect exhaust noise upward to reduce the audible signature.  Since the gear still seem to be fixed, it would seem that the work being done is still on low-speed handling qualities, even though the ultimate reason for the configuration is to show a lower cruise drag.  Let's get on with this...  Releasable trolley for takeoff and skids for landing?

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/Features/x-48_100th_testFlight.html

J-31: Chinese Carrier-Based Stealth?

It is never easy to separate fact from hype when sources are state-controlled, but it looks as though China's next stealth prototype may have taken its maiden flight.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/China/New-China-stealth-fighter-in-test-flight-state-media/Article1-953140.aspx