Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

NASA’s flight-test program for its X-59 supersonic demonstrator has begun to pick up steam, now prepping for a fifth flight this week that will reach altitudes up to 32,000 feet and speeds of up to 275 keas. The momentum follows a <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2026-03-23/nasa-second-x-59-flight-cut-short-warning-light">March 20 second flight</a> of the Mach 1.4 aircraft that lasted just nine minutes, cut short after a vehicle system warning light illuminated.
Agency officials said they determined the warning indicator light ultimately was a false positive, adding, “A post-flight investigation found the indicator’s instrumentation was incorrectly installed, creating a false positive of a problem. The team resolved the issue prior to the X-59’s third flight.”
Once determined, NASA returned the demonstrator to the flight-test program, accomplishing a nearly hour-long third flight on March 26, followed by a fourth flight the next day from the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less flew both those flights, along with the second flight.
That second flight kicked off what will be dozens of tests that are planned for 2026 with the aircraft built through a partnership with Lockheed Martin at the company’s famed Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.
“The team is currently working through the first block of test points,” the agency explained. “The first priority of this block of test points is to fly higher and faster. Flights will go up to 43,000 feet and Mach 0.95. Block 1 flights will also include some of the low and slow test points, like this next flight.”
As the agency expands the envelope, the fifth flight will be the first in which the pilots retract the landing gear, examining the performance during the transition to gear up.
As for the short second flight, Cathy Bahm, project manager for NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator at the Armstrong Flight Research Center, had stated afterward, “Despite the early landing, this is a good day for the team. We collected more data, and the pilot landed safely.”
Less, meanwhile, maintained that the airplane performed just like it had in the simulator. “And that’s what we like to hear. This is just the beginning of a long flight campaign.”
Once it reaches supersonic speeds, the aircraft will be used as part of NASA’s Quesst mission to study the impact of a “quiet thump” versus a sonic boom on various communities. This data will be gathered to assess the possibility of supersonic flight over land with the use of new aircraft technologies.

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