Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane successfully glided through a test on Friday that sent oxidizer flowing through its engine — a sight that led observers to speculate that the suborbital spacecraft’s first powered flight could be imminent. SpaceShipTwo has been tested in the air for more than three years. Its hybrid rocket engine has undergone extensive [...]

The highest bid wasn’t high enough to nab a piece of Canadian aviation history. The former Air Canada Boeing 767, known as the Gimli Glider, was on the auction block this afternoon in Mississauga, Ont. The Gimli Glider was being auctioned off by Collector Car Productions and spokesperson Terry Lobzun said it was hoped the plane would [...]

Indonesian investigators on Sunday began working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 on board. The National Transportation Safety Committee is examining the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that [...]

Boeing’s X-48C research aircraft flew for the 30th and final time on Tuesday, marking the successful completion of an eight-month flight-test program to explore and further validate the aerodynamic characteristics of the Blended Wing Body design concept. All 30 flights were conducted at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The X-48C typically flew for [...]

1898 – John Howard Umney, an English flying ace from World War I, is born. He flew as a gunner-observer in the rear seat of Bristol F.2 Fighters, and was credited with 13 official aerial victories. 1911 – The U. S. Army sets up its first permanent flying school at College Park, Md. 1934 – Renato Donati sets an altitude record of [...]

Amid all the controversy surrounding Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II, better known as the Joint Strike Fighter or JSF, the test force at Patuxent River, Md., recently distributed a great video of a B model doing the first JSF vertical landing at night. Thanks to DoDLive.mil, you can check out the video, below. 

History and aviation buffs can rejoice at the season opening of the Selfridge Military Air Museum near Mount Clemens, Mich., this month. The museum on the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township is open to the public from noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays, Independence Day and Memorial Day, starting now through October 27. [...]

The Netherlands is to place its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II test aircraft into temporary storage, pending a final decision on how to replace its air force’s F-16 Falcon fighters, also built by Lockheed Martin. Newly appointed defense minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert announced the decision to park the test assets in a letter to the Dutch parliament on [...]