AVweb Insider

It’s never a good day when the first e-mail you open has “I’ve got a bone to pick with you” in the header. But that’s what reader Louis Ridley sent me last week. Why, he asked, had we buried the Sen. James Inhofe story? Actually, we hadn’t buried it; it just dropped off the radar […]

Last week’s announcement by the FAA and aviation alphabets that the agency will establish a new government/industry committee to jolly along the quest for a replacement avgas caught no one by surprise. We knew the alphabets had asked for this; it was just a question of time before the FAA responded.Other than the fact that […]

The technology for autonomous aircraft is developing fast, driven mainly by the military, and it seems likely that within a few years we’ll be sharing our civil airspace with remotely piloted drones. It also seems likely that the last fighter pilot has already been born. But what about the last GA pilot?Given the technology we […]

When you power up the avionics on later model Cirrus aircraft, a questionnaire pops up that asks the pilot probing questions about his or her fitness to fly. It was introduced in response to a flurry of Cirrus crashes in which the airplanes performed as designed but there were shortcomings in the left seat.Although a […]

Whenever I spout off about the price of airplanes, especially LSAs, I usually hear feedback about it, both in the blog forum and in background e-mail. When I allowed as how most LSAs are right-priced at $120,000 or so, one reader sent me an e-mail calling that attitude arrogant. It may very well be. But […]

From the doesn’t-everyone-know-this-#$%$ file comes this nugget this week: The FAA says icing may affect stall warning systems on older aircraft. Well, duh. Unfortunately, the reality is that everyone doesn’t know this stuff, so the point is, sadly, well made and well taken. I’ll get to what people don’t know in a moment, but first […]

The FAA is suggesting that if the folks who are putting up met towers wouldn’t mind, it would be nice if they would paint them so aviators have a better chance of seeing them. That’s the gist of the proposed policy that the FAA is now taking comments on. Met towers, if you haven’t run […]

It may seem like only yesterday, but the light sport aircraft rule is coming up on its seventh birthday and if everyone or anyone was expecting explosive growth out of this segment, they’ve had to settle for mere endurance. That’s my impression of the mood at the seventh U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring which […]

Surviving an airplane crash-or any kind of accident, really-often turns on the most random twists of luck, like sitting in the only seat in an entire row that’s otherwise shredded or being ejected and landing on something soft. But surviving the impact is one thing, living through an extended period without rescue is quite another […]

Sometimes, the more you learn about a thing, the more information you gather and the more people you talk to about a specific topic, the harder it is judge. That’s definitely the case with aviation biofuels which are, in a sense, leading the charge towards a greener, bio-based fuel economy. I have pored over dozens […]