AVweb Insider

Quite out of the blue, the local controller at Orlando Executive Airport couldn’t quite contain himself: “I really like that airplane,” he said. He was referring to the Eclipse 500 we had just landed on runway 7 at KORL. His unsolicited compliment almost prompted me to key the mic and ask why he liked the […]

Last week, in a moment of temporary insanity, I decided to renew my instrument currency. For Florida pilots, this is sheer sandcastle building, the ultimate act of futility. But I worked hard and paid a lot for those instrument skills, so I suppose getting them back is no less rational than, say, lighting the pool […]

Although I can’t be certain, it appears that most AVweb readers were spared last week’s pointless #^%$storm du jour, but it contained something interesting, so I’m compelled to mention it here. Specifically, our news inboxes took in some stories from the UK and a chemical specialty magazine that said Innospec, supplier of tetraethyl lead, the […]

As armchair observers and occasionally participants, most of us are ready, even unasked, to pontificate on how the various shows we attend should be improved. But I’ve come to the conclusion that the major shows are nearly a perfect reflection of the industries they represent. When the aviation industry is bubbling — which it hasn’t […]

This week’s announcement that the Senate aviation subcommittee will hold hearings on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner certification review should remind us of two things. First, the intersection of politics and aviation remains acute, not tangential and, second, a major transport aircraft like the Dreamliner is so stitched into the global economy that it inevitably becomes […]

Some of our readers and colleagues in the aviation media were full of righteous indignation last week when AOPA published a highly-charged account of a glider pilot who’d been arrested after flying over a nuclear power plant.Of course, anyone who reads AOPA or us knows just about how much damage a glider pilot with evil […]

It seems odd that based on one incident — those two pilots who flew right past their destination while absorbed in a discussion and looking at their laptops — the FAA wants to ban all airline pilots from ever using personal electronic devices while in the cockpit — ever. The FAA did cite a couple […]

The debate about flight training has escalated with the advent of the first officer 1,500 hour (ATP) requirement. Various aviation groups are weighing in. What I don’t see represented is the private pilot student perspective.As a recent student, I would like to offer a few thoughts. But first, a little background. Becoming a pilot at […]

I’ll bet the broadband video conference lines between Boeing, Yuasa and Thales are getting overtime use this week following Monday’s ground fire in a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at Boston’s Logan airport. The instant I saw the video of it, with smoke curling out of the after hatch, I thought to myself, that better not be […]

For many of our readers, AVweb is not just an aviation news and feature service, but also, at times, an ethical or moral sounding board. We are sometimes expected to be, to paraphrase Tom Wolfe, a lonely beacon of restraint in a squall of aviation crazies who strut the stage on YouTube.If we’re to meet […]