Aviation technology analysis with Vector. Electric aircraft, avionics advances, eVTOL certification, satellite connectivity, and the engineering innovations shaping the future of flight.
NASA cancelled the X-57 Maxwell in January 2024 before its 14-motor wing ever flew, but the program's research legacy is already shaping the future of electric aviation.
The North American X-15 flew 199 missions to the edge of space, generating engineering data that still shapes modern aircraft and commercial spaceflight regulation.
Joby Aviation's S4 eVTOL has cleared every staged FAA powered-lift certification milestone, putting commercial electric air taxi service closer than most pilots realize.
Joby Aviation's S4 eVTOL has logged thousands of flight hours and cleared military airworthiness review, but FAA type certification remains the defining obstacle to commercial operations.
How Aireon's Iridium NEXT-hosted ADS-B receivers ended a century-long oceanic surveillance gap, delivering 8-second global position updates since 2019.
The FAA's 2014 policy removed the TSO barrier for angle of attack indicators on certified aircraft, bringing decades-old military stall-margin technology within reach of GA pilots.
The Boeing X-37B has autonomously landed on a runway after missions lasting up to 908 days in orbit, blending aviation and spaceflight engineering across seven missions since 2010.
CFM International's RISE program targets 20%-plus fuel efficiency over today's LEAP engines by removing the nacelle and exposing fan blades - a concept the 1980s couldn't close out, now back with better physics support.
Honeywell's Anthem flight deck is the first turboprop-class avionics platform built around software-defined updatability - and it may finally solve a 50-year certification problem.
NASA's X-59 QueSST is a purpose-built Skunk Works aircraft designed to produce a shaped sonic boom quiet enough to reopen American skies to supersonic flight for the first time since 1973.
Beta Technologies built its charging network before its airplane flew - a deliberate infrastructure-first strategy that may give it a durable competitive edge in electric aviation.
Boom Supersonic's XB-1 has broken the sound barrier, but three unresolved risks - engine, certification, and capital - stand between the Overture and a 2029 service launch.
How Don Bateman's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System transformed CFIT from one in four fatal commercial accidents to statistical near-zero.
The Garmin GFC 500 brings attitude-based autopilot technology and envelope protection from business jets to the aging GA fleet.
Every ADS-B-equipped aircraft publicly broadcasts its identity and GPS position on an open frequency - and two FAA programs exist to limit that exposure, if pilots know to ask.
The North American X-15 flew 199 times between 1959 and 1968, with 13 flights crossing the 50-mile threshold that made Air Force pilots astronauts and built the technical foundation still used in crewed spacecraft today.
The Pipistrel Velis Electro became the world's first type-certificated electric aircraft in June 2020, and its limitations matter less than what it proved is possible.
ZeroAvia has already flown a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain on a 19-seat aircraft, offering energy density that batteries cannot match for regional routes.
Electra.aero is developing a nine-passenger hybrid-electric aircraft using blown lift to operate from runways as short as 300 feet - at turboprop efficiency.
The 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision killed 71 people and exposed a critical flaw in how pilots are trained to respond when TCAS conflicts with ATC.