AVweb Insider

Every now and again, I have to silently cheer for the FAA’s plodding, frustratingly contorted way of doing its business. This week brings news that the agency isn’t going along with the Air Force’s insistence that it needs yet another restricted area, this one in North Dakota, in which to train drone operators. Here’s the […]

In a season marked by grim economic numbers and tiresome politics, inspiration and encouragement seems a rarity, but it can come when you least expect it. Our Cub was in the hangar last week for its annual and we discovered that when you own an airplane that’s so simple that nothing can break, something sometimes […]

By now, most pilots have heard of the events surrounding John and Martha King’s run-in with the aviation security system. There is no reason to fault the police officers that responded with drawn weapons. They reacted the way they are trained. There is no reason to believe that the police officers, most likely non-aviators, knew […]

As is often the case, this week’s blog on simulator training drew a little trickle of e-mail in the background from readers who don’t feel like engaging in the forum. One was from a long-time contributor railing about the inadequacies of modern training and, especially the alarming attitude of some pilots who rely entirely on […]

There can be no question that aviation is the most important technological advance of the last 100 years. Yeah, computers are cool, too, and there’s the telephone, not to mention the 1967 Charger, but for overall impact on humanity I don’t think there’s an argument.So, it always amazes me how slow we are to adopt […]

Back when I was editing IFR magazine, I got myself invited for a two-day sea tour on the U.S.S. Roosevelt, a Nimitz class carrier then doing workups to return to the Persian Gulf. After the fact, the Navy invited me to fly an F-14 simulator at NAS Oceana, for a follow-up story on how landing […]

Sunday night both Russ Niles and I got one of those e-mails that interrupt the peaceful routine of the weekend news biz: “We were held at gunpoint and handcuffed at an airport and it could happen to any pilot.” The note was from John and Martha King.By now, you will have read the details or […]

I know by firsthand experience that AVweb finds its way into the upper reaches of the FAA’s HQ at 800 Independence Avenue in Washington. What I don’t know is this: Do the gentle people inhabiting FAA’s mahogany row have a clue of how their lower minions are carrying out their jobs? Do they have even […]

Superior Airparts announced last week that it’s being purchased and re-capitalized by a Chinese company. Key the kneejerk reaction: Good grief, are we shipping the entire country to China? In five years, will there be anything left?I’ll concede that this is my standard reaction whenever I’m told or read that a company has sold its […]

When I was watching the morning news the other day and an overhead view of the Ted Stevens crash site flashed on the screen, I had two immediate reactions. The first: I’ve seen this before. And a second later, I found myself wondering why this kind of accident still happens. To the first reaction, the […]