CAL FIRE tested autonomous firefighting drones from Seneca designed for early fire suppression. XPRIZE Wildfire finalists also demonstrated AI wildfire detection systems in Alaska.

AI to help planes avoid climate-warming'sky graffiti' We've all looked up and seen the white lines trailing behind aircraft in the sky. Known as contrails, these icy clouds contribute to climate change, and scientists have been trying to work out how to stop them. Now, a £5m UK trial will test whether AI can help, by predicting where warming contrails are likely to form and getting planes to avoid those areas. The 30-month Operation Blue Skies project brings together Google, the UK government, the Met Office, air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and academic researchers. It will focus on the Shanwick Oceanic airspace in the eastern half of the North Atlantic corridor which accounts for approximately 5% of global contrail warming.

Technology Aviation The world's largest electric plane takes flight The 25,000-pound aircraft flew for 27 minutes. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator, the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown, crosses the Champlain Valley near Plattsburgh, New York, at sunrise during its first flight in August 2026. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

Two people have died following a light aircraft crash in north Wales. The aircraft was found in a remote location close to Trawsfynydd, near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, with the two people on board pronounced dead at the scene, North Wales Police said. The force received reports shortly after 12:00 BST that a light aircraft travelling from an airfield in England had not arrived at Caernarfon Airport as scheduled. Multi-agency air and ground searches were carried out until the aircraft was found. A team of investigators have since been deployed by the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB).

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This 1919 Curtiss Oriole may have mapped parts of South America and helped film some movies. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The WWI-era Oriole was manufactured in Garden City, New York. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

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The government has published its long-delayed defence investment plan (DIP) that outlines how much money it will spend on the UK's armed forces. An additional £15bn will go on defence - a total of £270bn over the next four years - and will include spending on the nuclear deterrent and new combat aircraft. But the extra money is less than the £28bn reportedly sought by defence chiefs, and both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have criticised the plan as underfunded. Here are the key points included in the 81-page plan, and what they may mean. Ministers say that is the largest increase since the Cold War in the 1980s.

A year ago, Air India flight 171 crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in the western Indian state of Gujarat, en route for London. The official investigation that followed has sparked intense controversy, in India and beyond, with some questioning its integrity amid claims of conflicts of interest. It is not the first time such an investigation has proved contentious. So is it time for a different approach when investigating air crashes? It was a hot and dry afternoon on 12 June last year, when Flight 171 left the terminal at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad. Settling into their seats for the nine-and-a-half-hour journey to London were 230 passengers, 53 of them British citizens. Looking after them were 10 cabin crew.