Highlight
From Urban Air Mobility to Interplanetary Mobility
Newly Identified Flying Objects: VTOLs Not Yet on the Radar
The U.S. Department of Defense recently confirmed that photos and videos taken by U.S. Navy personnel in March 2019, and subsequently leaked to the press, are legitimate images the Navy pilots shot of “unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).” The videos show acorn-shaped aircraft with capabilities beyond anything known to the U.S., its allies, or adversaries. As…
Leading Edge UAM
These UAM Designers Are Taking Urban Air Mobility to New Heights
The innovation and out-of-the-box thinking fueling the urban air mobility (UAM) industry not only rivals the turn of the 20th century transportation advances made by the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford, it’s fair to say, by the mid-21st century, it will surpass them. Engineers and inventors are developing revolutionary transportation beyond anything aviation pioneers could…
UAS – Unmanned Aerial Sports
Fitness Drones Are a Thing Now
Are you tired of paying someone to chew you out like a Marine Corps drill sergeant to whip your desk-bound body into shape? Have you had enough of jogging solo or that running partner who won’t stop yakking while you’re trying to get into the zone? Problem solved. Students at Seoul, South Korea’s Hongik University…
UAM Autonomy: What It’s Going to Take
Autonomy is not automation. Consider this: We all want autonomy—the power to control our lives; none of us wants to be automated. The Society of Automobile Engineers International (SAE) has defined six levels of autonomy, ranging from no automation (Level 0) to full automation (Level 5) for cars. These standards have been adopted by the…
10 Things You Always Wanted to Know About Flying Cars
But Were Afraid to Ask
Who invented the world’s first successful flying car? Waldo Waterman, a San Diego, California-based aviation developer and pioneer, invented the first flying car in 1932. The tailless monoplane was dubbed the Whatsit because that’s the question most reporters asked first. The Waterman Aerobile followed in the late 1930s. Painted “Buick blue,” this flying car was…
Vertical Flight Society Awards $100,000 in Scholarships
The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) awarded more than US$100,000 to 27 young engineering scholars at 11 universities in the U.S. and Germany to recognize, incentivize, and reward their promise and talent toward advancing vertical flight. “Since 1977, our Vertical Flight Foundation (VFF) Scholarships have helped inspire generations of students to pursue careers in vertical flight,…