I’ve been watching Diamond’s autonomous and fly-by-wire research for more than three years now, but I was mildly surprised to learn this week how far they’ve come with it. I wasn’t quite expecting the full autonomous flight tests so soon for light GA aircraft. But we’re there. It makes me wonder who else is doing […]
Diamond Aircraft, flying a DA42 twin, has completed a series of fully autonomous flight tests culminating in several landings without any input from human pilots. The tests used a new fly-by-wire system Diamond has been developing for light aircraft and were completed at Diamond’s Wiener Neustadt headquarters in Austria. The trials may lead to fielding […]
During the six hours that elapsed between the time I decided to write this blog and my actually pushing the button to publish it, 16 people were killed in fatal auto accidents in the U.S. None were killed by drones, nor probably even nicked. How do I know about the car wrecks? I don’t. I […]
A teacher in New York City was arrested Friday on charges of flying a drone in Louis Armstrong Stadium the evening before during a U.S. Open tennis match. The drone crashed into empty seats, and no one was injured, The Associated Press reported. Daniel Verley, 26, faces charges of reckless endangerment and operating a drone […]
Although it hasn’t been officially confirmed, last week’s reported collision between a drone and a Piper PA-23 was, in fact, a bird strike. Residue on the aircraft’s de-icing boot was analyzed by the Smithsonian Institution and found to contain the remains of a small, non-predatory bird, sources familiar with the investigation told AVweb on Friday. […]
AVweb’s search of aviation news this week found award announcements from the Aero Club of Northern California and the National Aviation Hall of Fame, a new mobile job-search app from AviationCV.com, and a milestone for Van’s Aircraft RV kits. Alan Eustace, who set the world record for the highest-altitude free fall jump in October 2014, […]
Houston was only an hour behind us, but the weather was turning out much worse than forecast. The ceilings were steadily lowering and the METAR updates said the few airports along our route were going from marginal to worse. A pop-up IFR clearance would have been great, but there was a little problem: the airplane […]
The FAA on Wednesday updated its 34-year-old Advisory Circular on personal model aircraft, issuing safety and airspace rules similar to the ones it has issued on consumer drones. The new version, which triples the length of the original 1981 AC(PDF) to three pages from one, limits model aircraft to 55 pounds unless certified by a […]
AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found a fuel-price app for jet operators and flight departments, the annual big gathering of the Civil Air Patrol, Zenith Aircraft’s upcoming Open Hangar Day, and a final call for nominees for public benefit flying awards. JetFuelX, led by tech innovator and pilot Jason Talley, has announced […]
Kitplanes magazine editor Paul Dye is a former NASA flight director, but he’s also a passionate homebuilder, currently working on a Dream Tundra. At AirVenture 2015, he gave us his six top reasons for joining the homebuilt community. view on YouTube
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