Australian Aviation

The joint Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) HIFiRE hypersonic project achieved another milestone on March 22 with the successful completion of a second flight at more than Mach 5. The flight was conducted at the Woomera Test Range in SA, and saw the small aircraft launched atop

Airservices Australia and the Australian Women Pilots’ Association (AWPA) have awarded four scholarships to young women to assist with the cost of flying training. The four winners were announced at the AWPA annual general meeting in Ballarat on March 20, and will each receive $6000 to subsidise the cost of obtaining a private or commercial

Unions are calling for far stiffer penalties to curb a 40 per cent increase in air rage incidents caused by a cocktail of alcohol and dysfunctional airports. In January the Office of Transport Security (OTS) reported to Contrails that there were 461 reports last year, up from 279 in 2008 and 67 in 2007. This

An unmanned Boeing A160T Hummingbird has successfully demonstrated its ability to meet the US Marine Corp’s vertical unmanned resupply capability requirement during a demonstration in Utah on March 9-11. Boeing says the A160T met or exceeded all of the USMC’s requirements, including delivering at least 1250kg of cargo from one simulated forward-operating base to another

Robert White, the first pilot to exceed Mach 4, Mach 5 and Mach 6, and still the fastest pilot to ever fly a powered aircraft, has died at his home in Orlando, Florida, aged 82. In 1961, White, then a USAF test pilot, took the Rockwell X-15 rocket plane beyond the milestone speeds in the

EADS has confirmed that it is re-assessing its earlier decision to not bid as a prime contractor on the USAF’s long running KC-X tanker replacement program after the Pentagon said it would consider an extension to the bid deadline. In a March 19 statement EADS said it “is assessing this new situation to determine if