IAI Heron TP Goes Down During Test

Details are scarce on the loss of this UAV.  It would seem that the plane was doing systems testing, which means that this crash could be even more expensive than you might think, since the on board surveillance systems are often half the cost of an operational UAV (or more).  Details should begin to filter out.  Keep in mind that this is NOT a small aircraft.  Ever flown on a B-737?  The Heron has the same wingspan.

http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=255572

Calspan Learjet as Northrop-Grumman X-47B Surrogate

The Navy is inching closer to having an operational UAV with autonomous air refueling capability.  It seems that Calspan has loaded the X-47B software and hardware into their Varistab Lear and managed to simulate at least the initial approach for probe-and-drogue refueling.  This is impressive not because it hasn't been done before, NASA Dryden has done the same thing using their flight control research F-18.  (You can probably find the "Look ma, no hands!" picture on line if you try.)  What is impressive is that we seem to be getting very close to using the results in active service.

http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NAVAIRNewsStory&id=4882

Icarus, meet Jarnos Smeets

This looks like a lot of fun, but I'm worried about controllability.  That is a lot of wing to control with very little in the way of tail surfaces.  Should be interesting!

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/20/humanbirdwings-guy-survives-first-test-flight/

Airbus Military C-295 Being Cleared for AEW Role

The lift that can come from that big radome is not trivial, so initial aero testing, especially at very high and low angles of attack, has to be taken seriously.  It's not clear how it well has performed, nor does it seem to actually have a radar yet.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/aew-themed-c-295-clears-flight-test-phase-367091/

F-35A Begins Night Testing, but are Mission Systems Lagging?

I never liked night flying at Edwards, so the approach of slowly transitioning from twilight makes a lot of sense.  With that big, empty lakebed all around the approach end it's like you're descending into a black hole.  You don't even have the minimal cues of a ship's wake as a reference below you.  It's just black.  The good news: sounds as though the cockpit lighting system is working as advertised.

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/01/19/photos-f-35-conducts-first-night-flight-as-tests-continue/

The bad news may be at another link, with radar and other mission systems being less mature than the program had planned.  My money still goes on software immaturity as the culprit, but what do I know?

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/01/20/report-notes-f-35-testing-program-has-not-delivered-effective-and-consistent-radar-performance/

Cessna Citation Ten Makes First Flight

The mid-sized, glass cockpit aircraft is intended to improve efficiency for this class of airplanes.  All indications are that the maiden flight went according to plan.

http://corpjetfin.live.subhub.com/articles/Citation_Ten_first_flight_127

Lufthansa Shelves Biofuel Flight Tests For Now

The story at the link below is one of the best I have run across at laying all the biofuel suitability cards on the table.  There are a lot of issues with biofuel that makes long-term reliance on it an unrealistic proposition any time soon.  It is great that folks are testing the waters, but no one is really going swimming in this pool for quite a while.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15661617,00.html