GA well represented among Collier finalists

The National Aeronautic Association announced the finalists February 18, and will name the recipient of this year's honor on March 25 following interviews of each of the finalists by the selection committee. The Collier Trophy has been presented annually since 1911 for "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America with respect to improving performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year."

Airbus began a flight test campaign in late 2024, collaborating with the Perlan Project and AeroDesignWorks of Germany, which built the hydrogen turbojet that was mounted on an Arcus J glider that made its maiden flight in November 2023 in Nevada. The goal of the Blue Condor project is to gather data about contrails produced during hydrogen combustion.

The new Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. flagship G700 was certified in March, and entered service the following month, with 65 city-pair speed records claimed by November. The G700 can fly 7,750 nautical miles at Mach 0.85, with a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.935, the fastest jet in Gulfstream's lineup and a tick behind the forthcoming Mach 0.94 Bombardier Global 8000. NAA noted that the aircraft helped advance flying on 100-percent sustainable aviation fuel and pioneered "model-based certification."

Skyryse, the tech startup that has reduced the complexity of controlling a Robinson helicopter to finger swipes on a tablet, is the third general aviation Collier Trophy contender. Founded by CEO Mark Groden in 2017, the FlightOS automation system drew significant investor interest and became a perennial presence at the UP.Summit technology investment conference. The company reported the first fully automated helicopter takeoff in December, followed (on separate flights) by the first fully automated helicopter landing in February.

Two space-based achievements will also be considered when the selection committee hears from the candidates on March 20. NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory were selected as finalists for building the Parker Solar Probe and flying to capture data from within the sun's corona, the first spacecraft ever to achieve this feat.

The U.S. Space Force and Boeing Co. earned consideration among the finalists for the X–37B project, "pioneering sustained space maneuver with a novel aerobraking maneuver that allowed the vehicle to operate across multiple orbital regimes with a single spacecraft in a safe, fuel-efficient manner," according to the NAA announcement.