Aviation technology analysis with Vector. Electric aircraft, avionics advances, eVTOL certification, satellite connectivity, and the engineering innovations shaping the future of flight.
Dream Chaser's runway-landing design traces directly to NASA's 1960s lifting body program at Edwards - including the real crash that opened The Six Million Dollar Man.
ZeroAvia's hydrogen fuel cell Dornier 228 has already flown, targeting a regional turboprop market that battery-electric aircraft physically cannot serve.
ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric Dornier 228 flight in January 2023 marked the first time a 19-seat regional airframe flew on hydrogen fuel cell propulsion, reshaping the math on zero-emission regional aviation.
Joby Aviation's S4 has logged 1,000+ test flights and holds an FAA air carrier certificate - here's where certification actually stands and what it means for pilots.
Airbus's normal law system prevents pilots from exceeding flight envelope limits automatically - a proven safety advance that also fundamentally changed who has final authority over the aircraft.
NASA's X-59 QueSST flew for the first time in January 2024, built to prove overland supersonic flight no longer has to produce a sonic boom.
NASA's Shuttle Training Aircraft - a modified Gulfstream II - prepared shuttle commanders for the orbiter's 22-degree, no-go-around final approach using real aerodynamics in real airspace.
TIS-B uplinks radar-derived traffic to ADS-B In receivers, but its position accuracy and latency differ significantly from direct ADS-B targets - and most pilots don't know the difference.
Wisk Aero is pursuing FAA type certification for a fully pilotless passenger aircraft - a fundamentally harder regulatory challenge than anything aviation has attempted.
How TCAS works, why a resolution advisory overrides ATC, and what the 2002 Überlingen disaster teaches every pilot about trusting the box.
The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System has logged more than 130 confirmed saves since 1997, but data shows pilots consistently wait too long to pull the handle.
The North American X-15 holds the all-time speed record for a winged aircraft and sent eight pilots to space - records that have stood for nearly sixty years.
NASA and Boeing's X-66A demonstrator tests a structurally braced ultra-high-aspect-ratio wing that could reduce narrowbody jet fuel burn by roughly 30 percent.
Radio Hangar explores Electra and the eSTOL Bet, Blown Lift, and the Hybrid Airplane That Wants to Take Off From a Soccer Field Instead of a Runway.
Garmin ESP quietly nudges the controls back toward safe flight before loss of control develops - here's how it works and why it matters.
How Stratolaunch turned Roc, the widest airplane ever built, into a reusable hypersonic test platform flying Talon A vehicles past Mach 5.
Radio Hangar explores The CFM RISE Open Fan, the Unducted Engine With No Cowling, and the Twenty Percent Fuel Bet That Could Reshape the Single-Aisle Jet.
The Lightspeed Delta Zulu is the first aviation headset with a built-in carbon monoxide sensor, adding a life-saving safety layer for pilots.
The Pipistrel Velis Electro is the world's first type-certified electric airplane - here's what its 50-minute battery really means for flight schools.
Your ADS-B Out broadcasts your aircraft's identity in the clear twice a second - here's who's listening and how PIA and LADD try to limit it.