It's a new month 💥 and September, for Managing Editor @terencecgannon.com, will forever mean one thing: the Reno Air Races. 🏁 He also announces some exciting new Custom Feeds, toys with the idea of a BluFly mailing list, and explains the new, slimmed-down profile name. (📸 Don Ramey Logan) | 🛩️ 🥇

Sick of coding? Have an artistic flair? Like aviation? Live near Bemidji, Minnesota? If so, your ship has just come in. 🛳️

I usually post this video on Christmas Eve, but with the sad news of naval aviator, test pilot, and astronaut Jim Lovell having gone west, it's entirely appropriate to post it today. This world very much needs more Jim Lovell, not less. | 🌎 🚀 🌖

Question for @bsky.app, @jay.bsky.team, @pfrazee.com, or anybody else that might know: does the presence and/or quality of the ALT text in Bluesky posts have any impact on rankings in the Discover feed? | 🦋 (actual footage of us working our fingers to the bone trying to write helpful ALT texts ⬇️)

The tragic news of Felix Baumgartner having gone west far too soon left us feeling very sad 😢 here in the home office. We choose to memorialise him this way: with the best TV commercial ever made, which he both narrates and in which he's featured. His words therein are all that need be said. | 🛩️ 📹

Anybody know why Dan Abramov's @bsky.app account is coming up as 'deactivated'?

We've said previously we like projects where quiet, steady progress is reported in the past tense. The 'Seaglider' from REGENT fits nicely into this category as they describe their latest developments getting the 'Viceroy' up on its foils. Next stop, flight in ground effect, presumably? | 🛩️ 🦆 ⚡️ 📹 🥇

You know, if you’re still on 🐦 there’s no nice way of putting it: regardless of your justification, you’re part of the problem. | 😒

Not a month goes by where there isn't at least one really interesting episode of the 'Behind The Wings®' podcast worthy of your time and attention: this time it's with Lt. Col. Josh Cadice (ret.) talking about the perennially popular U-2 'Dragon Lady'. | 🛩️ 🎙️ ⚔️ 🥇 | 🔗 wingsmuseum.org/resources/po...

Good thing it's still the 1st of June somewhere 🌎 otherwise this would be late. 😉 In any event, it's a new month 💥 and there are lots of great things in store kicked off with Managing Editor @terencecgannon.com's recollection of two articles which kind of changed his life. (📸 Cheryl Goodwin) | 🛩️ 🦆 🥇

It's National Paper Airplane Day and rather than raiding the office stationery cupboard for a modest, folded flying machine, why not consider this much more ambitious undertaking meticulously documented on Instructables? | 🛩️ 🪽 📡 🥇 | 🧵 1/2 | 🔗 www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-...

This is intriguing: launch thousands of autonomous, long-duration weather balloons. Then, aggregate the data they collect and process it with the aid of AI in order to provide improved atmospheric intelligence. Basically, that's WindBorne Systems. | 🛩️ 🎈 📡 🥇 | 🔗 windbornesystems.com?utm_source=b...

Here's an interesting and worthwhile project employing drones, robotics, and AI: « 'Smart Skies, Healthy Waters' Named a Winner of the Fifth 'Water Breakthrough Challenge' » Read the rest of the Skyports press release with a link. | 🛩️ 📡 🚁 ⚡️ 📰 🥇 | 🧵 1/2 | 🔗 skyportsdroneservices.com/2025/05/smar...

So … 👍🏻 or 👎🏻 or 🤷🏻 ? | 🛩️ 🚁 📹 🗳️

An open letter, of sorts, to @jay.bsky.team and other @bsky.app stakeholders on the recent implementation of 'blue check' verification. (📸 Katja Schulz via Wikimedia under CC BY 2.0, cropped) | 🦋

Y'know, if you're still actively reading or posting on that other platform (hint: 🐦), you're actually part of the problem rather than part of the solution. While we're on the subject, if you screenshot the latest outrage from there and post here, that ain't helping, either. 🤦🏻‍♂️

The unspeakably awful weather most wise aviators do their utmost to avoid, the brave folks at @noaa.gov fly towards, and into, with intention. The cozy-sounding 'bumpiness' belies what we mortals would undoubtedly find terrifying. 😱 We're in awe of their work and truly thankful for it. | 🛩️ 🥇

« Chilean wingsuit pilot Sebastián ‘Ardilla’ Álvarez has completed a breathtaking flight, submitting preliminary claims for multiple FAI World and South American records. » Distance: 53,448 m; time: 661 s; altitude: 12,639 m. Their press release with link. | 🛩️ 🪽 📰 📹 🥇 | 🔗 www.fai.org/news/sebasti...

Of all the flying car projects we follow, this one looks most like the way we imagined they would look when we were kids. CycloTech has just reported the first flight of their 'BlackBird' demonstrator aircraft. Their press release with link. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 📡 🚁 📰 🥇 | 🔗 www.cyclotech.at/blackbird-de...

A new issue of BluFly 🛩️ kicks off today. And what's not to love about that Jon Davison cover photo taken at Garah, New South Wales, Australia in 2013. | 📍 🇦🇺

We love the Smithsonian and in particular its National Air and Space Museum. We also think today is a great day to post this (for example): « Black Wings: The Life of African American Aviation Pioneer William Powell » Continue reading with link. | 🛩️ 🥇 ⚔️ 📍 🇺🇸 | 🔗 airandspace.si.edu/stories/edit...

It's been a while since we featured an update from Electra. However, they've been busy filling their order book with $9 billion (with a 'B') worth of pre-orders for their EL9 'Ultra Short' aircraft. Definitely one to watch in the advanced air mobility space. Their press release with a link. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 📰

While it just slips — by a whisker — into our surface-to-Kármán Line coverage mandate, we're really intrigued with this project wherein their 'Viceroy' skims over the waves in ground effect, with that flight regime seemingly like a kind of cheat code for aerodynamic efficiency. | 🛩️ 🦆 ⚡️ 📹 🥇

I both like and respect somebody with gin-clear self-perception.

The next React Status from @cooperx86.bsky.social, @brandrick.bsky.social and the Cooperpress team has just hit the street 💥 with lots of great stories for the React ecosystem. Read with the link below and if you haven't done so already, why not consider subscribing? | ⚛️ 🗞️

Still coveting your large follower count on that other site? 🐦 Or maybe you’re concerned about the ‘influence’ of those with big follower counts over there? If so, take the 100 Follower Challenge: pick any 100 followers and see how many of them are *real* people you’d actually *want* as a follower.

Is it just us being really picky, or has Apple completely butchered the English language with « Apple Invites is here. » | 🍏 | 🔗 www.apple.com/newsroom/202...

One of the publications we're helping — @blufly.media — just made the first small-but-important step from being purely a creature of social media curating links to other third-party material to editing, publishing and marketing original articles. 👏🏻

Okay, what we did *not* expect to see today was a fully controllable 'RC Maple Seed'. Steve Morris demonstrates some prodigious aero engineering skills with this fascinating project. More details and the full-length video (07:49) with link. | 🛩️ ⚡️ 📡 🚁 📹 🥇 | 🔗 www.linkedin.com/posts/steve-...

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Ticked with TikTok? Ready to terminate Twitter, fire Facebook, cut your Threads or insulate from Instagram? Here's a pitch for @bsky.app to be your next — and maybe only — social media home. Or, given you're already here, some thoughts for your friends and loved ones pondering what to do next. | 🦋

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There have been quite a few of these floating around over the last couple of days. However, we feel Ben Forrest of Kitchener, Ontario-based 'Skies' magazine does a particularly good job with this important story. We are therefore using it to get a jump on tomorrow's Story-of-the-Day. | 🛩️ 🥇 🦆 📰

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Hey @jay.bsky.team, don’t know if you caught it on PBS Newshour tonight but Frank McCourt described what TikTok would look like if he and his investor group acquires TikTok’s US business. He pretty much described @bsky.app. Worth watching, if you haven’t already. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

The Innovation and Capacity building in Agricultural Environmental and Rural UAV Services (ICAERUS) project has some interesting work on the go: « [W]e’ve been able to create a new, more practical framework for using computer vision and drones in animal counting … » Read more with link. | 🛩️ 📡 💺 📹 🏫

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We're wondering how many folks caught this recent story by @itayhod.bsky.social on CBS News. If not, you can view with link. What are your thoughts? If and when a drone delivery service you would use if it was available? For coffee and a croissant ☕️ 🥐 or something more substantial? | 🛩️ 📡 📹

There has been discussion lately about converting Starter Packs (SP) to Lists (L) and vice-versa. We must be missing something — do tell, please — but doesn't a SP also function as a L? If you go to the SP and click on 'Posts' isn't the resulting feed the same as a L with the same members? | 🦋

At first I thought this was a joke. Seemingly, that's not the case — see link. I'm sorry but anybody who thinks you can replace the logo on the left with the one on the right doesn't understand the Jaguar brand. (📸 Brian Snelson via Wikimedia under CC BY 2.0, cropped) | 🔗 www.bbc.com/news/article...

We've heard a number of folks talking about having 'verified accounts' on Bluesky, when what they're actually describing is configuring their account with a custom domain name. To do so requires access to the domain's DNS settings as per this @bsky.app article. | 1 of 2 | 🦋

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New(ish) from @aishamalik.bsky.social writing for @techcrunch.com. Admittedly we're nervous about the "no intention" part given the road to hell 👹 is paved with 'em. Good intentions, at least. Aisha's short article is certainly worth reading, though. (📸 @bsky.app ) | 🦋

Friday Fédèle: inspired by this month's cover, the first in a monthly series with selections from Fédèle Azari's (1895-1930) aviation photography collection in the loving care of @gettymuseum.bsky.social. We were charmed by the airship shadow in this one. | 🛩️ 💺 🎈 | 🔗 www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

We caught this today on @kqedforum.bsky.social and found the discussion interesting: host Rachael Myrow (@rachaelmyrow.bsky.social) talks with Zoë Schiffer (@zoeschiffer.bsky.social) soon-to-be-of WIRED and Damon Beres (@dlb.bsky.social) of The Atlantic about Bluesky "having it's moment". | 🦋

While many of the folks we used to follow on Twitter are already here on @bsky.app, for those who may still be sitting on the fence Jared Newman (AKA @advisorator.com), writing for @fastcompany.com, has some helpful tips. Isn't it time *you* made the move? | 🦋

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Age yourself with your first computer. (📸 Victorgrigas via Wikimedia under CC BY-SA 3.0, slightly cropped)

The team working away in New Zealand has achieved another impressive milestone: Mach 1.1 and an ultimate altitude of 25,146m (82,500ft). They say it's « … the first time a civil aircraft has flown supersonic since Concorde. » We think that's pretty cool. Read their press release below. | 🛩️ 📡 🛰️ 📹 📰