AI is learning to fly airplanes — and aviation is starting to embrace it

CNN US

By Pete Muntean

May 24, 2026

Quonset State Airport, Rhode Island — The small Cessna Caravan accelerates down the runway and climbs into the air, all while the pilot beside me keeps his hands off the controls.
“Let’s see those jazz hands,” jokes Tim Burns, chief technology officer at startup Merlin Labs, over the airplane’s intercom from a back seat.

Read more…