Aviation technology analysis with Vector. Electric aircraft, avionics advances, eVTOL certification, satellite connectivity, and the engineering innovations shaping the future of flight.
The Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System autonomously recovers an F-16 from terrain collision in seconds - and has saved eight or more pilots who were unconscious at the controls.
Boom Supersonic's XB-1 demonstrator reached Mach 1.122 in March 2024, marking the first new civil supersonic aircraft to break the sound barrier in the U.S. in decades.
The Garmin GFC 500 brings digital servos, envelope protection, and one-button emergency stabilization to legacy piston aircraft certified since 2019.
The Pipistrel Velis Electro was the world's first type-certified electric aircraft, receiving its EASA type certificate on June 10, 2020.
The Pipistrel Velis Electro is the world's first fully type-certified electric aircraft, and three years of European training data reveal where electric propulsion genuinely works.
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spaceplane - targeting its first ISS mission in 2026 - could become the first runway-landing spacecraft since the shuttle retired in 2011.
ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric Dornier 228 test flights demonstrate why energy density physics makes batteries alone insufficient for zero-emission regional aviation.
ACAS X replaces TCAS's decades-old fixed lookup tables with real-time dynamic programming, cutting nuisance alerts and extending collision avoidance to unmanned aircraft.
Aireon's network of 66 Iridium NEXT satellites closed a decades-old oceanic surveillance gap, giving controllers real-time ADS-B coverage over every ocean on Earth.
NASA's X-59 QueSST is collecting flight data that could provide the first scientific basis for overturning the FAA's 53-year ban on overland supersonic flight.
Synthetic vision technology renders a real-time 3D terrain picture on your PFD using GPS, AHRS, and terrain database data - and carries a critical limitation every pilot must know.
How the Airbus A320's Normal Law works, what the Alpha Floor does, and what Air France 447 revealed about the hidden cost of hard automation limits.
NASA's X-59 QueSST is actively flying with a 75 PLdB boom target - potentially ending the 1973 ban on overland supersonic flight in the U.S.
Weekly Starship launches from Boca Chica, Texas now generate TFRs that can close up to 200 miles of Gulf Coast airspace with as little as 24 hours' notice.
Electra.aero is developing a hybrid-electric 9-passenger aircraft using blown-lift technology targeting 150-foot ground rolls, potentially unlocking 4,500 underserved US airports.
ForeFlight dominates the GA cockpit, but Boeing's 2019 acquisition reveals a calculated vertical integration play that every pilot using the app should understand.
GPS spoofing in the Eastern Mediterranean is generating ghost aircraft on ADS-B displays and triggering false terrain alerts on airliners - and the authentication fix was deferred decades ago.
Solar flares, solar particle events, and geomagnetic storms directly affect where commercial airliners fly, what communications work, and how accurate GPS remains at altitude.
The angle of attack indicator shows what airspeed cannot - and FAA reforms in 2014–2015 finally made it accessible for general aviation pilots.
How a hidden automated system relying on a single sensor killed 346 people across two crashes and triggered the deepest crisis in modern commercial aviation history.