briefs

Dream all you want, the most sophisticated hardware coming off the line these days doesn’t need you, unless you’re good with a remote. Bell Helicopter announced earlier this week that its tiltrotor Eagle Eye TR918unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has received FAA certification. It’s the first such aircraft to get the FAA nod and we have […]

Maybe Harry Houdini has come back as an airplane thief. Vincent MacLeod III was planning to get himself current again on his $300,000 2002 Cessna 182T on Nov. 20 but when he unlocked the double padlocked door to his hangar at El Monte Airport in California, it was empty. Police told the San Gabriel Valley […]

Four big airlines and all of their unions got together in an unheard-of show of unanimity last week, but don’t credit the Christmas spirit. Enlightened self-interest is behind their show of force on Capitol Hill to try and press the House into taking up pension legislation passed by the Senate last month. The legislation would […]

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AVmail: December 5, 2005Reader mail this week about flight service, Airbus ADs, controller pay negotiations and more.

COLUMNS Motor Head #10: Baffling ExplanationsWe squeeze engines into tight, streamlined cowls and allow the least amount of (drag-producing) cooling air through there because what we really want is speed. But even tiny leaks in baffles can have huge effects on engine cooling and, therefore, engine longevity as Marc Cook discusses in this month’s Motor […]

Unmanned aerial vehicles have been attracting more and more attention in recent years, mainly for applications in military reconnaissance and border patrol. But down under in Australia, a new research center is aiming in a new direction. “People are talking about using them for so-called armchair farming,” says Rod Walker, director of the brand-new Australian […]

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, is working to develop technology that will enable the Air Mobility Command to land in a range of environmental conditions, anytime and anywhere, the Air Force said last week. An onboard system will process data picked up by imaging radar to generate a […]

When it’s not airspace grabs, it’s user-fee threats — that’s AOPA’s take on the FAA these days. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey spoke to the Aero Club in Washington, D.C., last Monday, and expressed what is by now a familiar theme — the Aviation Trust Fund faces imminent doom and a new funding system is essential. […]