Aviation technology analysis with Vector. Electric aircraft, avionics advances, eVTOL certification, satellite connectivity, and the engineering innovations shaping the future of flight.
The Boeing X-37B has autonomously landed on a runway after missions lasting up to 908 days in orbit, blending aviation and spaceflight engineering across seven missions since 2010.
CFM International's RISE program targets 20%-plus fuel efficiency over today's LEAP engines by removing the nacelle and exposing fan blades - a concept the 1980s couldn't close out, now back with better physics support.
Honeywell's Anthem flight deck is the first turboprop-class avionics platform built around software-defined updatability - and it may finally solve a 50-year certification problem.
NASA's X-59 QueSST is a purpose-built Skunk Works aircraft designed to produce a shaped sonic boom quiet enough to reopen American skies to supersonic flight for the first time since 1973.
Beta Technologies built its charging network before its airplane flew - a deliberate infrastructure-first strategy that may give it a durable competitive edge in electric aviation.
Boom Supersonic's XB-1 has broken the sound barrier, but three unresolved risks - engine, certification, and capital - stand between the Overture and a 2029 service launch.
How Don Bateman's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System transformed CFIT from one in four fatal commercial accidents to statistical near-zero.
The Garmin GFC 500 brings attitude-based autopilot technology and envelope protection from business jets to the aging GA fleet.
Every ADS-B-equipped aircraft publicly broadcasts its identity and GPS position on an open frequency - and two FAA programs exist to limit that exposure, if pilots know to ask.
The North American X-15 flew 199 times between 1959 and 1968, with 13 flights crossing the 50-mile threshold that made Air Force pilots astronauts and built the technical foundation still used in crewed spacecraft today.
The Pipistrel Velis Electro became the world's first type-certificated electric aircraft in June 2020, and its limitations matter less than what it proved is possible.
ZeroAvia has already flown a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain on a 19-seat aircraft, offering energy density that batteries cannot match for regional routes.
Electra.aero is developing a nine-passenger hybrid-electric aircraft using blown lift to operate from runways as short as 300 feet - at turboprop efficiency.
The 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision killed 71 people and exposed a critical flaw in how pilots are trained to respond when TCAS conflicts with ATC.
How NASA's wingless lifting body program - from a Pontiac-towed prototype to Bruce Peterson's 1967 crash - defined the aerodynamics behind all 133 Space Shuttle landings.
NASA's X-59 QueSST is the first credible scientific attempt to lift America's 53-year civil supersonic overland ban by proving quiet supersonic flight is achievable.
The FAA's ADS-B system runs on two incompatible frequencies - UAT and 1090ES - creating real traffic display gaps every GA pilot should understand.
Wisk Aero is building a fully autonomous four-passenger air taxi with no pilot onboard - a fundamentally different regulatory and technical bet than every other eVTOL program.
Aireon's ADS-B receivers aboard Iridium NEXT satellites deliver 8-second position updates over every ocean on Earth, replacing decades of procedural oceanic control.
Heart Aerospace's ES-30 uses a turbogenerator hybrid architecture to solve the battery energy density problem blocking electric regional aviation.