AVweb Insider

At last weeks UAV show in Orlando, the pre-day was held at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Ostensibly, the AUVSI had a flight display line there, but because of what Id call overbearing safety concerns from the FAA, they chased us too far away to see them flying. Disappointing for sure, but also a […]

Recently, the FAA changed how it recruits candidates for ATC positions, focusing on hiring candidates from its FAA Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program. This may seem logical, but the devil is in the details. Historically, candidates for AT-CTI program were evaluated on their work and educational experience directly related to ATC job functions, […]

To answer todays burning question-and burning is probably an understatement-you need to watch this video. Its quite engaging. Click back when youre done; Ill wait. So the question is, does the FAA have a compelling responsibility to protect the public from potential harm that could accrue from such filming using small UAVs? Should the agency […]

At the AUVSI in Orlando on Monday, I ran into my old friend Jon Doolittle, long-time pilot and aviation insurance broker. I shouldnt have been surprised that hes branched out and started selling insurance for UAVs. Of course, the underwriters are baffled about what to charge for such coverage because theres no loss history worth […]

I was looking through the archives the other day to see when we did our first serious coverage of electric aircraft. It was 2009; five years ago this summer. We imagined then that production versions would be trickling to market in a few years. They arent. But thats not to say theres not interesting progress […]

Air carriers encounter turbulence every day and I wouldnt be surprised if it causes minor injuries nearly as often that we just dont hear about. On Sunday, a U.S. Airways flight departing Philadelphia caught some nasty bumps over Delaware that bounced people off the overheads and injured a few passengers and at least one flight […]

Corporate buyouts, mergers and acquisitions are frequent features on the global business landscape. When one is announced, the press releases babble on about how market synergies and leveraged branding will soon make the customer experience a veritable orgasmic cornucopia of products and services and competitive prices. The reality is that when big companies buy little […]

Although I try to remain detached and aloof from the vulgarity of international politics, I couldnt resist just this one time. Did you see this news itemin which Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, torqued at U.S. sanctions against Russia for stealing Crimea, suggested that we use a trampoline to deliver our astronauts to the […]

One thing I like about Florida is that summer comes early, marked by two events-the snowbirds go home and take the traffic jams with them and the weather gets warmer. Eventually, itll get hot, but Im reptilian by nature and the weather suits my clothes, as the old bluesmen say. Its Cub weather. With less […]

Piper chose the Aero show two weeks ago to unveil its new diesel-powered Archer DX for good reason. The work on the conversion was done at Continental/Technifys skunk works at the Altenburg airport, a former East German military base where Thielert did all of the original test flying for its initial certification of the Centurion […]