Aviation technology analysis with Vector. Electric aircraft, avionics advances, eVTOL certification, satellite connectivity, and the engineering innovations shaping the future of flight.
China's EHang EH216-S became the world's first type-certificated eVTOL in October 2023 - a fully autonomous, pilotless aircraft already carrying passengers commercially.
The FAA's Privacy ICAO Address program scrambles database lookups to obscure aircraft identity, but the unencrypted 1090 MHz signal remains visible to anyone with a $25 receiver.
Every winds aloft forecast pilots rely on traces back to a global network of 900 balloon-launched radiosondes that measure the atmosphere twice daily from surface to near-space.
The 2002 Überlingen collision killed 71 people when one crew followed ATC instead of their TCAS RA - a failure of training, not technology.
ZeroAvia flew a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Dornier 228 in January 2023, marking the most significant step yet toward zero-emission regional aviation.
Archer Aviation's Midnight eVTOL has secured a conditional purchase agreement for up to 200 aircraft from United Airlines, the most substantive airline commitment in the eVTOL industry.
Dream Chaser is the first orbital spacecraft designed to land at a conventional airport runway, blurring the line between spaceflight and aviation infrastructure.
Atlanta startup Hermeus is developing the Chimera combined-cycle engine targeting Mach 5 commercial flight, which would cut New York-to-London transit time to roughly 90 minutes.
Joby Aviation's S4 eVTOL is navigating the most complex FAA type certification in U.S. aviation history, forcing regulators to write new rules from scratch.
Under Airbus Normal Law, the flight computer prevents pilots from commanding a stall or exceeding structural limits - here is what that means for safety, authority, and pilot skill.
TIS-B fills ADS-B traffic display gaps using FAA radar data, but latency, coverage holes, and non-transponder aircraft create blind spots every pilot must understand.
Cockpit weather displays show radar data that is 5–15 minutes old - a gap that can be fatal when navigating convective weather.
FADEC gives a computer complete authority over your engine - understanding its failure modes is as critical as knowing its benefits.
Reaction Engines' SABRE engine solved the core thermodynamic barrier to air-breathing orbital flight - and the proof survived the company that built it.
NASA's X-57 Maxwell validated the core aerodynamics of distributed electric propulsion while revealing the systems integration challenges that will define the next decade of electric aircraft development.
Boom Supersonic's Overture airliner targets Mach 1.7 cruise and a 2030 entry into service - the most credible commercial supersonic program since Concorde retired in 2003.
The 2009 crash of Air France 447 revealed how cockpit automation can erode the manual skills pilots need most when automated systems fail.
ACAS X replaces TCAS II's 1990s-era lookup table with a real-time dynamic programming algorithm designed for drones, eVTOLs, and modern mixed airspace.
GNSS spoofing silently injects false GPS positions into aviation systems, corrupting ADS-B surveillance with no cockpit warning - here's what pilots need to know now.
FADEC manages every variable in modern turbine engines with dual-channel redundancy - and understanding how it works, and fails, is essential for any pilot who flies behind one.