AVweb Insider

The mere mention of aviation user fees sends some of us into apoplectic fits, as well it should. Flying an airplane, much less owning one, has become an increasingly expensive proposition. When the government proposes to charge yet more money for the privilege with no apparent gain, we’re rightfully offended.That was certainly the case last […]

In parallel with the political campaign season comes aviation’s annual rite of spring: the battle over user fees. No sooner than did the Obama administration’s proposed budget come off the press than my inbox filled with a half dozen press releases from the alphabets decrying users fees. By now, I think they can just change […]

Sometimes, I just hate YouTube.My video on the Collings Mustang elicited some comments and e-mail on the Spitfire being the iconic fighter of World War II, not the Mustang. Well, whatever. My view is that the Mustang might not have been the best air-to-air fighter, but it earned its stripes with its exceptional range, allowing […]

The Collings Foundation roared into town last weekend with its two bombers, the B-17 and B-24, and Betty Jane, the foundation’s P-51C Mustang. Venice, it turns out, is one of the tour’s best stops gate wise and every year, I try to help my pal Nick Carlucci handling parking and other support duties.So a bunch […]

If you don’t have a holy &^% moment when watching this this video, you don’t have a pulse. At every turn, it seems, the creepiness factor of advances in drone technology seems to be accelerating. This was one of two developments that surfaced last week that should give anyone second thoughts. The other is the […]

How many aviation organizations should you belong to? As a member in good standing of the aviation community, must you pony up dues for both AOPA and EAA? And what other service organizations should you support in order the keep GA alive, much less vital.EAA is in the process of testing that question. As you […]

Because readers are interested in new airplanes and because most new airplanes are LSAs, I tend to fly a lot of those. I’m not complaining. They’re fun, sip gas and I see pockets of innovation thanks to the streamlined standards under ASTM. All good. On the other hand, if you fly nothing but new LSAs, […]

Don’t see a video screen?Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page.If that doesn’t work, click here to download the video directly. // –>When Adam Evans sent me a link to this clever 3D video on historical events in aviation, it proved quite a coincidence. Since seeing Red Tails last weekend, I’ve been ruminating about […]

If there’s anything inarguable in aviation it’s this: The number one cause of accidents is loss of control on the runway, or what we call R-LOCs in our accident reporting. To be more accurate, R-LOCs are actually the result, the cause is some other factor related to the fact that pilots sometimes have a hard […]

I suppose if you hold your nose, Red Tails might be considered a decent movie in a it-could-have-been-a-lot-worse sort of way. And I understand enough of how the entertainment business works to accept a certain artistic license so I wouldn’t raise much of an issue about the pilots flying D-model P-51s instead of the C-models […]