Not according to the company, which took to social media platform X, owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to rebut a report published Monday.

Sources within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shared with CNBC previously unreported notices and investigative records, which allege that SpaceX violated several clean water regulations. The company employs a water deluge system, common at launchpads such as Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, to absorb heat and vibrations from firing rocket engines.

But according to CNBC, the firm’s use of that system this year—including during the third orbital test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, and the Super Heavy booster—may be discharging industrial wastewater without TCEQ or EPA permission.

SpaceX swiftly refuted the CNBC report in a lengthy post on X, characterizing the story as “factually inaccurate.”

According to the company, the water deluge system uses potable, or drinking, water and has been authorized for operation by both the TCEQ and EPA, which filed their notices one week and five months ago, respectively.

“Throughout our ongoing coordination with both TCEQ and the EPA, we have explicitly asked if operation of the deluge system needed to stop and we were informed that operations could continue,” SpaceX said.

Neither agency immediately responded to FLYING’s request for comment.

Typically, a launch provider must be compliant with state and federal laws to obtain launch permissions from the FAA. On Monday, the aviation regulator postponed several meetings intended for stakeholders to provide feedback on SpaceX’s proposal to launch Starship from Starbase as many as 25 times per year. The agency did not provide a reason for the postponements.

“The FAA apologizes for any inconvenience,” it said. “Public meetings will be rescheduled; however, the docket remains open to receive public comments.”

Conflicting Accounts

Interestingly, CNBC and SpaceX cite the same sources to make their respective claims, raising questions about whether one party received bad information.

Starbase’s deluge system was installed after Starship’s maiden flight in April 2023, the impact of which sent debris flying miles away, led to an FAA investigation, and brought a lawsuit against the agency and SpaceX from five environmental groups. It was first tested in July with TCEQ personnel onsite, SpaceX said.

But regulators told CNBC the firm skipped a crucial step in the permitting process related to wastewater management. In its notice to SpaceX, TCEQ said it received 14 complaints claiming that the deluge system was harming the surrounding environment, including one last August alleging that Starbase was discharging industrial wastewater without a permit. 

Last month, a TCEQ investigation found that SpaceX did so four times between March and July. According to a SpaceX permit filing viewed by CNBC, some of that water contained concentrations of mercury that exceed water quality limits.

SpaceX on Monday, however, painted a very different picture. According to the company, no water samples tested were found to have mercury levels above EPA limits. It elaborated on Tuesday with another post claiming that the figures the outlet viewed were simply incorrect.

“While there may be a typo in one table of the initial TCEQ’s public version of the permit application, the rest of the application and the lab reports clearly states that levels of Mercury found in non-stormwater discharge associated with the water deluge system are well below state and federal water quality criteria,” the company said.

The firm flatly denied that any industrial wastewater is spewing from Starbase, claiming that the deluge system’s potable water is never used in or exposed to industrial processes.

It also said the landing pad is power washed prior to activating the system and that soil, air, and water samples are analyzed by an independent laboratory after each use. According to the company, most of the water is either vaporized by the heat of the engines or captured in special ponds, with only a tiny amount escaping the pad.

SpaceX further claimed it is well within its right to operate the system.

The EPA sent the company a formal notice of violation of the Clean Water Act the day before Starship’s third test flight in March. But according to the firm, the agency made a mistake.

“When the EPA issued their administrative order in March 2024, it was done without an understanding of basic facts of the deluge system’s operation or acknowledgement that we were operating under the Texas Multi-Sector General Permit,” SpaceX said.

Per the company’s version of events, the EPA agreed to allow it to continue using the system as it worked toward obtaining an individual permit from TCEQ, “because the deluge system has always complied with common conditions set by an individual permit, and causes no harm to the environment.”

It submitted a permit application on July 1 and said the agency is expected to issue a draft individual permit and agreed compliance order this week.

If SpaceX is ultimately found to be in violation of TCEQ and EPA rules, it could have a ripple effect on the Starship program, which is under pressure to meet obligations for NASA’s Artemis moon mission program as well as commercial customers.

According to the company, the rocket is ready to launch on its fifth test flight pending regulatory approval, but that may be difficult to obtain if it isn’t compliant with regulations. The firm will need to complete several more Starship test flights before the spacecraft is authorized for service missions.

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That’s not the beginning of a bad joke, but rather a description of SpaceX’s newly announced human spaceflight mission, which as soon as this year will send four astronauts to the ends of the Earth for the first time in history.

The company on Monday unveiled Fram2—a mission to explore the planet’s polar regions, over which no spacecraft has ever flown directly. During the three-to-five-day mission, which will launch from Florida atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the crew will enter a 90-degree polar orbit and observe the Arctic and Antarctic wilderness through a cupola fitted to the company’s Dragon capsule.

No crewed spacecraft has ever reached an orbital path higher than 65 degrees, a feat the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, which carried the first woman to space, achieved in 1963. Typically, such orbits are occupied by smaller satellites, while larger spacecraft such as the International Space Station fly closer to the equator.

The expedition, named after the ship Fram used by Norwegian explorers to reach the poles in the late 19th century, will be Dragon’s sixth commercial astronaut mission and third free-flying mission. The spacecraft has flown three private missions to the ISS for customer Axiom Space, completed the Inspiration4 private orbital spaceflight on behalf of billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, and will launch another mission for Isaacman—Polaris Dawn—as soon as this month.

“Polaris Program, Inspiration4, Axiom, & now Fram2 showcase what commercial missions can achieve thanks to @SpaceX’s reusability and NASA’s vision with the commercial crew program,” Isaacman said in a post on social media platform X, which is owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. “All just small steps towards unlocking the last great frontier.”

Fram2 similarly is backed by a wealthy CEO, entrepreneur and adventurer Chun Wang, who made his fortune from Bitcoin mining. Wang purchased the mission for an undisclosed amount and will serve as commander.

According to his profile on X, Wang is an avid traveler who has visited half of the world’s countries and territories. But he has grander aspirations.

“I’ve read many sci-fi stories about the first human missions to Mars, usually led by NASA or some fictional government,” Wang said in a post on X. “Rarely does anyone dare to imagine such a mission may be carried out privately. But now, I increasingly believe that someday we will reach Mars—and it may be a person, or a company, not a nation, who gets there.”

Accompanying Wang will be commander Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, pilot Eric Philips of Australia, and mission specialist Rabea Rogge of Germany, who told the website Everyday Astronaut they befriended the blockchain entrepreneur on a trek to the North Pole. All four crew members will be making their first trip to the final frontier.

Mikkelson is a filmmaker who seeks out remote or hazardous filming locations and served as payload specialist on the 2019 One More Orbit mission—a record-breaking polar circumnavigation flight on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

According to its website, Fram2 will shatter One More Orbit’s high water mark of 46 hours and 40 minutes, achieved in a Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER ultra-long-range business jet, by flying from the north to south pole in just 46 minutes.

Philips, a polar adventurer and guide, knows those regions well, having completed several ski expeditions. But viewing them from orbit has never been possible, even for astronauts on the ISS, to whom they appear invisible.

Fram2 will orbit at about 264-280 miles above Earth, allowing the crew to study strange green and purple light emissions known as Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancements (STEVE), atmospheric phenomena that resemble auroras. Researchers have yet to determine what causes the optical abnormalities. The mission will weigh input from space physicists and citizen scientists alike.

“Having spent much of my adult life in the polar regions this is an incredible opportunity to view the Arctic and Antarctica from space, in particular Antarctica which will be fully lit at this time of year,” said Philips.

Rogge similarly has a fascination with extreme environments, having researched ocean robotics in the Arctic in pursuit of ways to improve the technology. She will get the chance to study tools that could prepare humans for future missions to Mars and beyond, “from capturing the first human x-ray images in space to Just-in-Time training tools to the effects of spaceflight on behavioral health,” according to Fram2’s webpage. The crew will also study what happens to the human body after weeks or months in space.

“Wang aims to use the mission to highlight the crew’s explorational spirit, bring a sense of wonder and curiosity to the larger public, and highlight how technology can help push the boundaries of exploration of Earth and through the mission’s research,” SpaceX said in an update on its website.

Since 2020, SpaceX has flown 50 astronauts to low-Earth orbit across 13 human spaceflight missions, more than any private company. These include the three Axiom Space missions, Inspiration4, and eight NASA Commercial Crew rotation missions to the ISS, as well as the Demo-2 test flight.

Competitors Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, have each completed seven commercial human spaceflights.

All three companies, in addition to NASA contractors such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman, are part of an emerging trend that could soon become the norm. NASA has predicted that when the ISS is retired at the end of the decade, it could become one of many customers enlisting the services of private spaceflight companies, rather than a provider of those services.

That could mean more private astronaut missions financed by millionaire and billionaire backers.

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Today’s Top Pick is a 1992 SOCATA TB-9 Tampico Club.

Sometimes the most basic airplanes also are the most practical and economical for first-time buyers who are—officially or not—acquiring an aircraft to continue their aviation education.

One possible downside is that there is not much variety in that market segment. Whatever you find is likely to come with a Lycoming O-320 on the nose, fixed-pitch propeller, fixed gear, and an overall design that is not too exciting.

One exception is the SOCATA TB-9 Tampico, which, despite sharing specs with basic Cessna 172s and Piper PA-28s, manages to look alluring on the ramp. The stylish, upward-opening gull-wing doors certainly help. So does its more modern shape, which, in my opinion, clearly did not emerge from a domestic drafting table.

The Tampico and its siblings, the more powerful TB-10 Tobago and retractable TB-20 Trinidad, simply look European, which they are. They are not orphan designs, though, as SOCATA’s parent company Daher, known today for TBM turboprops, continues to support these piston singles.

The Tampico is sure to be a superior icebreaker for any pilot flying into an unfamiliar airport. People will ask what kind of airplane you are flying and you will have the opportunity to share the model’s interesting details.      

This 1992 TB-9 Tampico has 3,611 hours on the airframe, 1,531 hours in its 160 hp Lycoming O-320-D2A engine since its major overhaul, and 71 hours since the engine underwent a top overhaul. Additional equipment includes strobe lights, heated pitot tube, and alternate static system

The IFR panel includes a KMA 24 audio panel with markers, Garmin GNS 430 GPS/nav/comm, NSD-360 HSI, KT 76 transponder with encoder, two-place intercom, and wing beacon with ADS-B Out.

Pilots searching for a more stylish four-seat personal aircraft that is versatile enough for training, building time, or traveling should consider this 1992 SOCATA TB-9 Tampico, which is available for $69,500 on AircraftForSale.

If you’re interested in financing, you can do so with FLYING Finance. Use its airplane loan calculator to calculate your estimated monthly payments. Or, to speak with an aviation finance specialist, visit flyingfinance.com.

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The post This 1992 SOCATA TB-9 Tampico Is a Stylish-But-Economical ‘AircraftForSale’ Top Pick appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The antique aircraft’s owners—Dave and Jeanne Allen—were killed in the June 30 accident.

According to the preliminary report released by the agency (below), thick fog was reported by residents in the area at the time of the accident.

The Allens, from Elbert, Colorado, were both accomplished pilots. Dave was a retired airline pilot, and Jeanne flew gliders. The accident airplane, the teal cabin-class model, had been restored by the Allens and was one of the most photographed vintage airplanes at airshows and fly-ins.

• READ MORE: Award-Winning WACO YKC Restorers Killed in Kansas Crash 

What Happened

According to the NTSB preliminary report, on June 30 the Allens were planning to fly from Knox County Airport (4I3) in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Oberlin Municipal Airport (KOIN) in  Kansas. According to SkyVector, the straight-line distance is approximately 829 nm. 

The Allens made two fuel stops en route—one at the Shelby County Airport (2H0) in Shelbyville, Illinois, around 8:40 a.m. CDT, and another at the Chillicothe Municipal Airport (KCHT) in Missouri, about 11:35 a.m.

The aircraft was not equipped for IFR flight as it was not required to be when it rolled off the assembly line in 1934. The panel of the WACO was period correct with the required original instruments, including an airspeed indicator, altimeter, slip-skid indicator, magnetic compass, and vertical speed indicator.

Investigators also found a hand-held Garmin GPSMAP 496 and an Appareo Stratus 3 in the aircraft. The circuit boards of both were recovered and retained for further examination.

While in Shelbyville, Jeanne Allen made the first of several text messages to the manager of Oberlin Municipal Airport stating that their estimated time of arrival would be around 5 p.m., according to the NTSB report. A second message sent later said that the weather was looking too low for VFR at Oberlin, so they would divert to Phillipsburg Municipal Airport (PHG) in Kansas, approximately 57 nm to the west.

From the ground, Dave Allen made several telephone calls to both the Oberlin Municipal Airport manager and a family friend in Colby, Kansas, to inquire about the weather en route and possible destinations.

According to the NTSB, the airport manager told him that the weather conditions included low ceilings and visibility, and he did not know when or if the weather would improve.

The family friend told investigators that, based on the telephone conversation, he assumed the couple would stay overnight in Colby.

The WACO took off from Chillicothe Municipal Airport at 5:10 p.m.. Approximately six minutes later, the passenger sent a text to the manager in Oberlin stating they were “going to try and go south to get out of this stuff.”

ATC radar data, beginning at 5:46 p.m., showed the airplane making several climbing turns starting at an altitude of 3,025 feet msl. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 4,625 feet msl over the accident site, then began descending right bank. Data was lost by 5:49 p.m. The last readout shows the aircraft on a heading of 75 degrees, with a groundspeed of 109 knots and an altitude of 3,800 feet msl, which put it approximately 1,050 feet agl.

The accident site was in a flat agricultural field about 0.10 nm southeast of the last received ATC radar position. The impact marks and debris were consistent with the airplane hitting the ground in about a 90-degree right bank and about 40-degree nose-down attitude. There was a postaccident fire.

NTSB said that an oil rig crew, located about a half mile from the accident site, reported that fog was so dense it could not see the top of its derrick.

The NTSB final report with the probable cause of the accident is expected to be released in about 18 months.

The post NTSB Releases Prelim Report on Vintage WACO YKC Crash appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Wings Over the Rockies is a Colorado-based, nonprofit organization that supports educational programming at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum.

This year’s scholarship winners will receive $12,000 for the pursuit of a private pilot certificate in either a single-engine airplane or a glider. The awards are made possible by the Ray Foundation, an organization that “provides grants for programs and educational organizations primarily in aviation that develop life skills such as honesty, worth ethic, self-confidence, and self-discipline.”

Scholarship applicants were subjected to a rigorous evaluation and interview process conducted by representatives from Wings Over the Rockies, the Captain Jeppesen Foundation, and other partner organizations, including Daedalian Flight 18, the Colorado Pilots Association, and the Colorado Aviation Business Association (CABA).

This year 119 students applied, and more than 50 made it to the interview process. Each scholarship recipient was assigned a mentor to guide them through the training process, which included both flight time and a thorough study regime to help them reach certification.

“Our future is bright with the up and coming students who want to pursue a career in aviation,” said retired U.S. Air Force Major General John Barry, president and CEO of Wings Over the Rockies. “We hope to continue to expand this scholarship program in the future and are incredibly grateful to the Ray Foundation for making this scholarship program available to Colorado’s future pilots.”

Since the program was launched in 2019, 150 high school students in Colorado ages 15 to 19 have received more than $1.3 million in scholarship awards. 

The post 26 Colorado High School Students Awarded Flight Training Scholarships appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) said this week that ex-Viper pilots can likely get a combat job if they want one.

“If you’re a retired F-16 pilot and you’re looking to fight for freedom, they will hire you here,” Graham told reporters after a meeting with Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. “They’re going to look throughout NATO nations for willing fighter pilots who retired to come help them until they can get their pilots trained. So we’re going to get these jets in the air sooner rather than later.”

Ukraine received its first few F-16s in late July, and there should be about 20 ready for combat by the end of the year, but training pilots is a slow process.

Only about 20 Ukrainian Air Force pilots will be qualified by the end of the year, and that’s about half the number needed for the available aircraft. The Vipers are expected to act as a deterrence to long-range attacks from the Russian side of the line by forcing it to release weapons from a greater distance.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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Development of Confidence

The learner’s confidence often comes from their trust of the instructor.

Does your instructor inspire confidence? Do they have a vested interest in your training? Do they get excited for you when you reach a milestone like your first solo? Do they come up with creative ways of teaching when you are having difficulty? Or do they become frustrated when you’re not getting it and complain that they are “too good” to “still be a CFI?” 

• READ MORE: How Do You Obtain a Student Pilot Certificate After a Break in Training?

While you don’t necessarily have to like your instructor, you do need to respect them, and they need to respect you for learning to take place. If respect is not present, the best thing to do is change instructors.

Practice and Drill

“Why are we doing this again?” the learner asked when the CFI asked for a demonstration of ground reference maneuvers. 

The answer is because practice and drill increase proficiency, and proficiency results in confidence. A good portion of your flight training will be reviewed to make sure you consistently meet the airman certification standards (ACS).

On the ground drill can mean taking practice knowledge tests—as few as 10 questions at a time —until the material is learned, or going through practice check ride oral exams until the material is understood, not just delivered by rote.

What Hurts Confidence

Confidence is shaken if the learner gets the impression the CFI is making up answers to questions or if the CFI puts the learner into dangerous situations, like flying in a thunderstorm or icing conditions.

Some CFIs make excuses, like the CFI who flew into a closed airport twice (two different airports) with a learner because he didn’t check the NOTAMs. I asked the CFI why he didn’t check the NOTAMs before the flight and was told “that’s the student’s job.” Riiiiiight. Apparently he hadn’t taught his learner how to check NOTAMs because no one taught him.

• READ MORE: When Flight Training Stalls

If a flight is going poorly, the worst thing an instructor can do is tell the learner “just sit back, I’ll take us back to the airport.” It’s much better if the CFI engages the learner, if at all possible. If they don’t physically want to fly, have them run the radios, do navigation—all the while asking them to take the controls again.

The exception to this is when the learner does something willfully dangerous, like attempting to buzz something on the ground or not listening to the CFI when they tell the learner to go around. If the CFI has to take the controls to prevent a crash because the learner cannot follow directions, remove them from training.

Disengaged CFI

If the instructor views teaching as a chore, or complains how they want to move on, the learner can start to wonder if they are truly getting an education or simply paying for someone else to pad their logbook. This erodes learner confidence.

I wish I had a dollar for all the times I have heard pilot candidates remark they weren’t sure if they learned anything from their CFI because the flights were pretty much the CFI just sitting there. There was no feedback, good or bad.

A lack of communication can make a learner doubt themselves. I tell my learners if I am quiet in the cockpit, they are doing a good job. I learned to say this because a rather anxious young man was worried I was upset with him as his father had warned him, “It’s never good when a woman is quiet.”

Identifying What Makes You Anxious

If there is something that makes you anxious about flying, let your CFI know what it is. A good CFI will help you deconstruct the issue and come up with a workable solution for improving your confidence.

For example, if you are worried about getting lost, plan a dual cross-country flight using only pilotage and dead reckoning. Cover up the magnetic compass and make the GPS and VOR off-limits for this exercise.

The CFI might even toss in a divert. On the next flight add in a VOR (if available) and have the learner triangulate their position. Once you have that down cold, add in the GPS as a backup measure during cross-country flights.

Landings

Landings can cause anxiety. The ground is rushing up at you, and if you don’t have good airspeed control or there’s a crosswind that is taxing your capability, it’s easy to scare yourself.

Break down the process to identify the items that are giving you the issue: Is it staying ahead of the airplane? Run the checklist to get a better grasp on the procedures and “chair fly” the pattern, identifying what speeds and altitudes you are at on each leg.

• READ MORE: The Art of Ground School

If you are having trouble determining when to flare, have your CFI demonstrate how to fly 6 inches over the runway in the landing attitude, then do a go-around. The learner repeats this maneuver until they get comfortable.

Crosswinds

Since we can’t control the weather, an aviation training device (ATD) is excellent for learning how to handle crosswinds.

Start with crosswinds at 30 degrees and work up to 90 degrees and increase velocity. The learner gains muscle memory in the sim that can be replicated in the aircraft. Then make it a point to fly on wind days to get real-world experience.

You will be surprised at how much more confident you feel

Check Ride Oral Exam

It is often said that check ride failures most often happen during the oral exam rather than the flying portion.

If you have test anxiety, ask your CFI to set up mock oral exams for you. These need to be more than just reading out of the oral exam guide. Have another CFI put you through your paces. 

Understand that the purpose of the mock oral exams is to find the soft spots so that they can be reinforced before the actual check ride.

Overconfidence

The opposite end of the spectrum is the overconfident pilot who resents instruction.

If the learner has flown with another CFI who didn’t do preflight and post-flight briefings, or didn’t use a syllabus or emphasize checklist use, the learner can become resentful of the replacement CFI, suggesting they are trying to undermine the learner’s confidence by showing them what they don’t know. That’s the wrong attitude for a learner to take.

Every time you fly with a different CFI, anticipate you will learn something, just as CFIs pick up something from each learner they fly with.

CFIs need to be careful not to criticize the previous instructor, or say things like, “I can’t believe you don’t know this.” That can be a challenge sometimes, like when the learner doesn’t do clearing turns or use the rudders in flight.

“My other instructor told me not to do that,” or “my other instructor never made me do that,” are red flag phrases which usually translate to “something was lost in translation.”

If a learner is successful in another aspect of life, like their career, they can be of the mind that learning to fly will be very easy for them. When it isn’t, that can be a challenge to their self esteem.

The CFI can help the learner by pointing out that learning is a process, and anything as skill and knowledge dependent as flying is going to take time and practice and patience. Both the learner and CFI need to recognize this so that learning can take place.

The post The Confidence Factor in Learning to Fly appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Israeli company Flytrex on Friday announced the milestone, which it believes makes it the largest commercial provider of food drone delivery in the U.S. The firm said 70 percent of the households in its delivery areas—which comprise a handful of towns in North Carolina and Texas—have used the service to deliver items such as sandwiches, hot wings, and even ice cream.

“We are focused on bringing our customers the best experience—and that includes delivery that is convenient for their schedules and preferences,” said Scott Scherer, chief information officer of Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems.

Zipline leads the commercial drone industry in deliveries with more than 1 million as of August, but the company primarily delivers medical items such as blood samples and vaccines. Similarly, Wing, the drone delivery arm of Google parent Alphabet, has completed 350,000 deliveries as of January, flying a combination of food and convenience items with partners such as DoorDash and Walmart. But it’s unclear what proportion of those are in the U.S., as the company also has a robust presence in Australia.

Flytrex, by contrast, is focused almost exclusively on food delivery in the U.S. The company’s self-flying drones, which are monitored by FAA-certified operators, can carry up to 5.5 pounds of cargo and fly at around 32 mph, covering a range of 5 miles round trip.

Average delivery time is less than five minutes, with the fastest order being completed in just two minutes. A delivery box is fastened to the drone and lowered to the ground with a tether, protecting delicate items such as eggs. Orders are delivered either to the customer’s house or a public pickup spot.

The FAA in 2021 approved Flytrex’s request to fly over people and deliver to customers’ backyards in North Carolina, allowing it to begin flying commercially. Later that year, around the same time Flytrex launched in Texas, the agency expanded the range of the company’s service to 1 nm, then doubled it in 2022. According to the firm, the second expansion allowed it to reach nearly 100,000 customers.

Last year, Flytrex operating partner Causey Aviation Unmanned became just the fifth company—joining Zipline, Wing, Amazon Prime Air, and UPS Flight Forward—to earn FAA Part 135 permissions for drone delivery, which according to the regulator “is the only path for small drones to carry the property of another for compensation beyond visual line of sight.”

The key phrase there is beyond visual line of sight (or BVLOS as it is known in drone industry parlance), which denotes flights beyond the pilot’s field of view. The FAA has yet to finalize regulations on BVLOS operations, which has forced drone delivery providers to obtain waivers to add the permissions.

These exemptions typically expire after a couple of years. However, a Part 135 holder can have BVLOS permissions added to its certificate, as Zipline and Wing have done, rather than requesting temporary relief.

“Flytrex continuously innovates to overcome delivery challenges, ensuring our drones can handle anything from large and heavy family meals to bad weather and oddly shaped packages,” said Yariv Bash, CEO and cofounder of Flytrex.

According to Flytrex, french fries, chicken nuggets, turkey sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, and burrito bowls have been the company’s most popular restaurant orders, while bananas, limes, and ice cream reign supreme at grocery stores. About 36 percent of all grocery orders included some kind of fresh produce.

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The post Drone Firm Flytrex Makes 100K Food Deliveries in North Carolina, Texas appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to Piper, the M700 Fury, which was certified in March, underwent “rigorous testing for unpaved field certification.”

“The Fury’s performance was exceptional,” Ron Gunnarson, vice president of sales, marketing, and customer support at Piper Aircraft, said in a statement. “The aircraft’s robust design and construction quality ensured seamless operations in all test conditions. The certification process was also smooth with the Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) flight test being completed in just one day.”

• READ MORE: Piper Lifts the Veil on the M700 Fury, Its Fastest Single Yet

Safety is key with the Piper Fury, according to the company. The airframe comes standard with a G3000 avionics suite, including autothrottle, emergency descent mode, electronic stability protection, SurfaceWatch, SafeTaxi, and Garmin PlaneSync, along with the HALO Safety System, featuring Garmin Emergency Autoland. 

The system is designed to allow the aircraft to land safely at the nearest suitable airport in the event the pilot is incapacitated.

• READ MORE: Piper Announces FAA Type Certification for M700 Fury

The powerplant of the M700 Fury is a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-52 700 SHP capable of a maximum cruise speed of 301 ktas. The Fury has a standard useful load of 2,320 pounds and a range of approximately 1,852 nm.

The single-engine aircraft can be configured for executive transport, a cargo hauler, or both.

The post FAA Clears Piper M700 for Unpaved Field Operations appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Germany’s Volocopter last year hatched a plan with international airport operator Groupe ADP to ferry spectators around the 2024 Paris Olympic Games using its VoloCity air taxi, which would mark the aircraft’s commercial rollout. The firm even extended an invite to French President Emmanuel Macron, whose government approved the flights earlier this year, to be its first passenger.

But the company was unable to certify its two-seat design, built for a pilot plus one passenger, in time to fly people at the global event.

Another eVTOL manufacturer, China’s AutoFlight, also partnered with Groupe ADP last year to demonstrate its self-flying Prosperity air taxi at the Games but has yet to announce any test flights.

Still, it wasn’t a total wash for Volocopter. The firm managed to complete two test flights, one on Wednesday and another on Sunday.

The first took place at the Aerodrome of Saint-Cyr-l’École (LFPZ), one of five sites where the partners are constructing vertiports to support commercial operations. These vertical takeoff and landing hubs, similar to heliports, are built with electric charging stations to support eVTOL aircraft.

Big Plans for Paris

Groupe ADP is developing additional vertiports at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (LFPG), Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LFPB), and Paris Heliport, as well as a special floating landing pad on the River Seine that Volocopter can use until the end of the year. These five locations will be linked by five eVTOL air taxi routes: three public transit routes and two round-trip tourism routes.

According to Volocopter, the vertiport at Saint-Cyr-l’École is the first bespoke commercial location within its approved Paris route network. Wednesday’s crewed test flight was conducted under a permit to fly awarded by France’s Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), kicking off an operational validation test campaign.

The company will need to demonstrate flight maneuvers around the vertiport, ground handling, communication with air traffic control, battery charging, and more. The campaign is the culmination of years of testing at Pontoise airfield, the site of Paris’ first inaugurated vertiport.

“For now, test flights are carried out without passengers, but once the aircraft is certified, we will test emergency medical flights with AP-HP (Ile-de-France University Hospital Centre),” said Edward Arkwright, deputy CEO of Groupe ADP. “Innovation in the field of aeronautics needs time to remove obstacles regarding safety, but we remain convinced that new carbon-free air mobilities around eVTOLs will offer helpful services that go way beyond the transportation of passengers.”

Volocopter followed that test flight with a second at the World Heritage Palace of Versailles on Sunday, soaring over the palace’s lush gardens during a demonstration attended by Groupe ADP and DGAC officials.

The venue hosted several 2024 Olympic events and was the site of the first hot-air balloon flight by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783. Authorization for the flight was awarded on the final day of the Games by the Château de Versailles, City of Versailles, Yvelines Prefecture, and DGAC.

“The sustainable air mobility community is still at the start line, but today’s flight in this exceptional environment was the perfect closing ceremony to our summer, as we look forward to returning to Paris very soon,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter.

The company said it hopes to fly in central Paris later this year, with aspirations to launch passenger operations from its river barge vertiport on the Seine. A Groupe ADP official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the partners hope to fly passengers over the river by the time Notre Dame Cathedral, which burned down more than five years ago, is reopened in December.

Volocopter next year also expects to begin trials of an emergency medical service in Germany with partner ADAC Luftrettung, which last year agreed to purchase two custom-built VoloCity aircraft and could buy as many as 150.

Why Didn’t They Fly?

Beyond test flights, the firm’s primary goal is to obtain type certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the elusive approval that would have allowed it to fly passengers at the Olympics. So far, only one eVTOL manufacturer—China’s EHang—has received type certification from its country’s aviation regulator, though many others have begun the process.

Arkwright told AFP that Volocopter’s VoloCity suffered “a delay of a few weeks” in certification due to issues affecting the aircraft’s motor. The air taxi features 18 motors and rotors powered by electricity from nine lithium-ion battery packs, giving it a range of about 19 nm at a cruise speed approaching 60 knots.

Hoke said the issue traces back to “an American supplier who was not capable of providing what he had promised.”

Passenger flights at the Olympics also faced political barriers from local French officials, many of whom characterized the project as environmentally harmful and air taxis as a service for the wealthy. In response, Volocopter and Groupe ADP have altered their tone by touting other use cases, such as emergency response.

Paris’ city hall even took legal action against the proposal, but according to AFP, French administrative officials ruled against it “pending a decision on the merits of the case, expected in the autumn.”

Though Volocopter failed to meet its goal, the company will have another chance to showcase its aircraft on the world stage at the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. By then, the FAA expects to have laid the groundwork for commercial air taxi routes to be flown routinely.

Manufacturer Archer Aviation earlier this month expressed its desire to be flying in the city by the time the Games begin, while competitors Joby Aviation and Wisk Aero, the eVTOL subsidiary of Boeing, plan to operate there as well. Wisk further intends to demonstrate its self-flying design at the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane.

The companies’ objective is to boost public acceptance of the novel aircraft, which they claim will be far quieter and more sustainable than helicopters. Some have already managed to convince major U.S. airlines, including United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines, to make investments or commitments to the technology.

Among American manufacturers, Archer and Joby are the closest to receiving type certification. Both companies hope to begin flying passengers next year.

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