BluFly 🛩
@blufly.media
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A humans-in-the-loop feed for the aviation community. If made by people and flying between the surface and the Kármán Line you'll find it on BluFly. Read the current issue at https://blufly.media/2025/10. (📸 Richard 'Zulu' Souza, see article)
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We thought we'd found the ultimate in airborne opulence with the Global 8000 a few days back. Not to be outdone, Boeing Business Jets will retrofit a 747-8 to whatever spec your heart desires. 🥰 Order yours today, using the online configuration tool. | 🛩️ 🥇 | 🔗 businessjets.boeing.com/wp-content/u...
An artist's rendering of a Boeing 747-8 as it either departs or arrives from an unknown airport. It is flying toward and slightly to the right of the camera position. The extended landing gear is depicted just a metre or two above the runway. The aircraft is mainly white on the upper surfaces and navy blue on the lower surfaces of the fuselage. A gold accent stripe appears close to the curvaceous boundary between the two main colours. There is no registration number visible, although the Boeing Business Jets logo is partially visible on the vertical stabiliser. The aircraft appears to be flood-lit from above and the background is entirely black. (📸 Boeing Business Jets)
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Seemingly regardless of whether BluFly uses British English or American English, the audience who prefers the one we didn't choose will think we have it wrong. 🤦🏻‍♂️ So BluFly is introducing a system to 'automagically' switch from one to the other depending on who's reading. | 🛩️ 🦅
BluFly 🛩️ | October, 2025 | Vive la Différence
« Perhaps surprisingly, feedback received in the BluFly home office quite often relates to the use of American English versus British English … »
blufly.media
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Okay, this is an interesting landing zone. 😱 FlyingBasket just released the story and video of their program of deliveries to the Borletti, Payer, Vedretta Pendente, and Vallaga alpine huts in the South Tyrol 🏔️ of Italy. Nice gig if you can get it. | 🛩️ 📡 📹 📰 🥇 | 🔗 flyingbasket.com/blog/news-1/...
A screenshot from FlyingBasket's video about their program of deliveries to the Borletti, Payer, Vedretta Pendente, and Vallaga alpine huts in the South Tyrol 🏔️ of Italy. The main image shows the view down from the drone at a gravel landing pad surrounded by steep cliffs falling away to the valley. In the upper right of the frame, the adjacent alpine hut is visible. A person is standing in front of the hut watching the drone deliver supplies. Three additional, smaller images are montaged over the bottom of the photo showing various aspects of the delivery operation. (📸 FlyingBasket)
blufly.media
It might be worse than you think: we did some analysis on a predecessor publication and we figured the average reading time for articles therein was about *75 seconds*. So, about 300 words. 😱
BACKSTORY
Part II: More Contemplations from the Edge of the Crater
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blufly.media
Very cool, thanks so much for this. 🙌🏻
blufly.media
Because dreaming is free, we can't resist the temptation to fire up the Radius Map Tool on Atlist and see where the G8000 would take us in one hop at nearly the speed of sound. Almost everywhere, it seems. Try from your home airport. (📸 Atlist) | 🛩️ | 🧵 2/2 | 🔗 www.atlist.com/radius-map-t...
A map of the world in Mercator projection. The area of the map within 8000 miles of Springbank Airport in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is shaded to a slightly darker colour. Because of this projection, the boundary between the two areas forms a sine wave-like pattern in the area mostly below the equator. The only continent entirely beyond the 8,000 mile distance is Antarctica. (📸 Atlist)
blufly.media
« Bombardier Global 8000, the World’s Fastest Business Jet, Gets Even Faster With a New Top Speed of Mach 0.95 » Almost as startling is the 8,000 NM range. Not bad for a company that starting out making snowmobiles. 😉 (📸 Bombardier) | 🛩️ 📰 🥇 | 🧵 1/2 | 🔗 bombardier.com/en/media/new...
An image of a Bombardier G8000 business jet flying toward and slightly below the camera against the background of lower, hazy cloud deck. The aircraft is leaving a 'furrow' in a cloud layer. The tip vortices of the aircraft are leaving upward curls at the edges of the furrow. It appears to be a sunny day. It's not clear whether this photo is as it was captured or if there was some manipulation of the photo after the fact with photo editing tools. (📸 Bombardier)
blufly.media
Thanks so much for the repost. 🙌 Although it sounds like you may have found it already, we have been keeping a ‘clipping file’ on Electra for a few years now, and you can find the collection of links here. It’s a pretty good story so far.
Electra
Pioneering direct avation: air travel without airports, emissions, or noise.
blufly.media
blufly.media
Although there is quite a bit of overlap between the two contemporaneous press releases, for those who are interested in Evolito's perspective on the arrangement, their link is below. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 📰 | 🧵 2/2
Electra Selects Evolito to Supply Electric Engines for the EL9 Ultra Short Hybrid-Electric Aircraft | Evolito LTD
Evolito is proud to announce its selection as the electric propulsion unit supplier for Electra's revolutionary EL9 Ultra Short hybrid-electric aircraft.
evolito.aero
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It's interesting, and a little surprising, to hear news of Electra's selection of UK-based Evolito for their electric power system, with all hardware to be built/assembled in the UK at Evolito's Bicester, Oxfordshire facility. More with link. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 📰 🥇 | 🧵 1/2 | 🔗 www.electra.aero/news/electra...
A graphic of a translucent Electra EL9 showing the hybrid-electric propulsion system, which appears in blue, all on a black background. The blue components include the motors in the eight nacelles on the leading edge of the wing, the battery pack in the fuselage near the centre of gravity and below the passenger compartment, along with the « turbogenerator » which is mounted aft of the passenger compartment toward the tail. These three main components are labelled with lettering on a black background. In the top left corner of the graphic, the words « Hybrid Electric Propulsion » in bold, white letters. (📸 Electra)
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A new article from @zeroavia.bsky.social, wherein they position their 'SuperStack Flex' lightweight hydrogen fuel cell system in the seemingly shifting and challenging hydrogen aviation landscape. There's also a link to their explainer video for the SuperStack system. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 📹 🥇
New Drivers for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Adoption in Aviation
Hydrogen fuel cells deliver increased flight endurance and reduced environmental impact, ideal for next generation electric aircraft.
zeroavia.com
blufly.media
« When Aviation Volunteers Mobilize: CWoR Supports Emergency Air Exercise » We continue to be impressed by the efforts of Canadian Wings of Rescue, in this case, joining in Alliance North's 'Air Bridge 2025' exercise. Continue reading with link. | 🛩️ 🥇 | 🔗 canadianwingsofrescue.ca/when-aviatio...
A young woman climbs into a small, general aviation aircraft while it is parked in or beside a white hangar. The aircraft, pointing to the right of the frame, is shown in profile and is cropped such that the fuselage is shown from just forward of the empennage to the open, passenger side door. She has her left hand on the aft edge of the door frame and is stepping up onto the wing with her left foot. She is wearing a blue t-shirt with white lettering and black pants. She has a phone in her right pants' pocket and has sunglasses propped up on the top of her head. She has medium-length brown hair. The aircraft is white on the upper surfaces and blue on the lower. The right wing of the aircraft is in the foreground of the photo, but blurred, so as to focus attention on the person in the photograph. A flight of stairs and some windows are visible in the background. (📸 Canadian Wings of Rescue)
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That would be Etihad, no? 🤔
blufly.media
Nothing gets us going quite like news of a new air museum opening: The Caldwell Collection, at Mustang Field of El Reno, Oklahoma, is now « open during special events and by appointment ». Their new-looking website has all the details. | 🛩️ 📍 🇺🇸 🥇 | 🔗 thecaldwellcollection.org
A montage of three photos representing various aspects of the Caldwell Collection based in El Reno, Oklahoma. Top left: an old black and white photo of the field when it was set up as a training base for the Army Air Force. Bottom left: the main hangar undergoing renovation. Bottom right: An 1930 Waco RNF biplane parked in front of a hangar. The aircraft has a red fuselage and silver wings. In the top right corner is the round, mostly black logo of the collection which says « THE CALDWELL COLLECTION AT MUSTANG FIELD » around the periphery and surrounding a stylised red biplane graphic. In the background is a graphic also showing a red biplane in front of a hangar with « THE CALDWELL COLLECTION AT MUSTANG FIELD » over the main door. (📸 The Caldwell Collection)
blufly.media
Although it's yet another significant sign of the quiet, steady progress being made by UK-based Skyfly Technologies, selfishly we also hope it's not the end of those exquisite English landscapes in the background of their photos and videos. Their latest press release with link. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 🚁 📰 🥇
Skyfly Axe SN001 granted Experimental Permit by Federal Aviation Administration to begin piloted flights in the USA - Skyfly
Skyfly’s prototype Axe VCA (Serial Number 001, registration N250EV) will now remain in the United States, where the flight test programme will continue.
skyfly.aero
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This month, Managing Editor @terencecgannon.com leads off with this month's barnstorming-themed cover photo triggering him to soliloquise about his not-yet-written screen adaptation of Richard Bach's 'Nothing by Chance'. But he could use your help. (📸 Richard 'Zulu' Souza | Full Disc Aviation) | 🛩️
BluFly 🛩️ | October, 2025 | In The Air
« I fell in love with the picture before I knew either where or when it was taken. That it turned out to be tied in with barnstorming is karma … »
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And « X-VERT VTOL RTF » was taken, of course. (📸 E-flite | Horizon Hobby) | 🛩️ 📡 ⚡️ 🚁 | 🔗 www.e-fliterc.com/product/x-ve...
A planform view of E-flite's sadly discontinued 'X-VERT VTOL RTF’, which resembles Sikorsky's newly branded 'Nomad™'. It consists of a foam wing with two motors and props mounted on the leading edge. Each prop is mounted within a circular guard to reduce the possibility of prop strikes. A bracket is mounted on the tip of each wing, each of which provides a two-point landing skid. The aircraft has green and black graphic stripes. It has two large control surfaces on the trailing edge of the wing aft of the prop. The combination of these control surfaces and differential thrust provides all of the control for the wing.  The logos for E-flite and Horizon Hobby appear on these control surfaces. The aircraft is flying in a vertical orientation in a mostly clear blue sky. (📸 E-flite | Horizon Hobby)
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In a follow-up from March of this year, @sikorskyair.bsky.social has branded its twin-rotor tail-sitter and introduced S, M, L, and XL sizes: « Lockheed Martin Sikorsky Introduces Nomad™ Family of Long-Endurance, Runway-Independent Drones » | 🛩️ 📡 ⚡️ ⚔️ 🚁 📰 📹 | 🔗 news.lockheedmartin.com/2025-10-06-L...
A planform view of four versions of Sikorsky's new Nomad™ long-endurance, runway-independent drones are shown in their vertical, take-off, and landing configuration. The largest is in the back with progressively smaller versions positioned in front of it. A person, holding what appears to be a controller, is shown over on the right for scale. The aircraft itself consists primarily of a straight, high-aspect-ratio wing with two forward-facing motor nacelles turning disproportionately large propellers — each of the props has a diameter roughly equivalent to a third of the wing span. Instead of a fuselage and tail, there is a small pod where the fuselage would normally be located, which mostly extends forward of the wing. There is no conventional tail. There are two vertical stabilisers located just outboard of the motor nacelles. A 'leg' extends aft from both the upper and lower tip of the vertical stabilisers. These legs will enable the aircraft to land vertically and remain stable while in vertical orientation while on the ground. (📸 Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company)
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Isn’t the rule of thumb along the lines of: hardware store bolt, $1; ‘marine’ bolt, $10; ‘aviation’ bolt, $100? 😉
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That's what we thought to ... we speculated on some potential influences in our ALT. Undoubtedly, there are quite a few others as well. It sure is pretty. 😍
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Exactly. 🙌🏻 The downside some may point out is the single seat. To which we would say: "buy two"; his and hers. 😉
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So … any takers? (📸 Spirit Engineering, Inc.) | 🛩️ 🥇 | 🧵 1/2 | 🔗 spiriteng.com/se-1-aircraf...
A Spirit Engineering SE-1 is shown taxiing along a tarmac surface from left to right in the frame. The aircraft is vaguely reminiscent of a combination of the Ryan 'ST' and Miles 'Hawk Speed Six'. It is all polished aluminum with dark trim stripes running the length of the fuselage. The company's logo is painted just aft of the engine. The registration « N113SE » is painted on the side of the fuselage. It is a single-seat, low-wing, cantilevered monoplane. It has a single seat, open cockpit with a low windshield and a fairing aft of the pilot's head. A desert landscape can be seen immediately beyond the hard surface on which the aircraft is taxiing. Beyond that are rolling desert hills. (📸 Spirit Engineering, Inc.)