Tag: Aircraft

Safer skies with self-flying helicopters

In late 2019, after years of studying aviation and aerospace engineering, Hector (Haofeng) Xu decided to learn to fly helicopters. At the time, he was pursuing his PhD in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, so he was familiar with the risks associated with flying small aircraft. But something about being in the cockpit gave […]

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MIT students win national materials design competition

Two MIT undergrads recently took the top spot — and $2,000 in prize money to share — in the annual ASM Materials Education Foundation’s 2023 Undergraduate Design Competition. Louise Anderfaas and Darsh Grewal, students in Professor Gregory Olson’s class 3.041 (Computational Materials Design), worked with MIT postdoc mentor Margianna Tzini on the complex project. “This is probably the […]

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MIT engineers are on a failure-finding mission

From vehicle collision avoidance to airline scheduling systems to power supply grids, many of the services we rely on are managed by computers. As these autonomous systems grow in complexity and ubiquity, so too could the ways in which they fail. Now, MIT engineers have developed an approach that can be paired with any autonomous […]

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AI copilot enhances human precision for safer aviation

Imagine you’re in an airplane with two pilots, one human and one computer. Both have their “hands” on the controllers, but they’re always looking out for different things. If they’re both paying attention to the same thing, the human gets to steer. But if the human gets distracted or misses something, the computer quickly takes […]

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“Pangea” study aims to modernize national test and training infrastructure

Whenever the United States develops a new system — say, a plane — this system needs to be tested and validated to ensure all of its components are working as intended. That’s where the U.S. national test and training infrastructure comes into play. Across the country are many different ranges focused on assessing the systems […]

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Way Too Furtive?! After Pilot Ejects, F-35B Aircraft Disappears

A puzzling situation has emerged in South Carolina as an F-35B pilot ejected from their aircraft, leaving the advanced stealth fighter missing. The incident occurred north of Joint-Base Charleston, with the pilot landing safely in a Charleston neighborhood under a parachute and in stable condition. However, the whereabouts of the ejected F-35B remain unknown. The […]

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World’s First Crewed Flight Powered By Liquid Hydrogen Takes Off

German hydrogen propulsion startup H2FLY has achieved an innovative milestone in zero-emission aviation by completing the world’s first crewed flights powered by liquid hydrogen. The flights took place at a small airport in Maribor, Slovenia, as part of Project HEAVEN (High powEr density FC System for Aerial Passenger VEhicle fueled by liquid HydrogeN), an EU-funded […]

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Planning algorithm enables high-performance flight

A tailsitter is a fixed-wing aircraft that takes off and lands vertically (it sits on its tail on the landing pad), and then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Faster and more efficient than quadcopter drones, these versatile aircraft can fly over a large area like an airplane but also hover like a helicopter, making them […]

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