AVweb Insider

All I can say is, I want my $28 back. That’s what the FAA dinged me when I registered my drone, probably because I checked the commercial-use box. Or for some other reason I wasn’t paying attention to. Now, as you’ve read, a court has declared the FAA registration program null and void because it […]

With the potential banning of laptops from airliner cabins under hot debate in Europe this week, I find myself once again recoiling at how people describe their thinking on this topic. Not to mention other risk-related issues. Notice I did not say “safety-related.” I saw a quote go pixeling by in which the speaker said […]

What started out two weeks ago as, if not a trial balloon, perhaps a rumor, may be about to happen. Several news outlets have reported that the U.S. wants to expand a policy to ban any electronic device larger than a cellphone from airline cabins on flights to the U.S. originating in Europe. Recall that […]

As trade shows go, AUVSI’s bash—held this week in Dallas—is bigger than AEA, but smaller than NBAA. But it’s a lot more glitzy than either of those. When Intel—that’s $60 billion a year Intel—shows up to play on stage, they open their checkbook. Walking the show floor, there is so much stuff and so many […]

At last year’s Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International show in New Orleans, the association announced, with flourish, that this year’s convention would be called Xponential 2017. And so it is. The sentiment is obvious and justified, given the apparent growth and potential for unmanned systems. AUVSI’s current catch phrase is: All Things Unmanned. I’d […]

At Sun ‘n Fun, after I’d interviewed the soon-to-depart Mooney CEO Vivek Saxena, I found myself fairly perplexed about his comment on seeking the “next-generation piston aircraft.” As he was telling me about that, of course, Diamond was busily introducing it 5000 miles away at Aero. (Reason number 237 why I should have gone to […]

Companies like Boeing, Cessna, Piper, Garmin and a handful of others rarely complain openly about the cost and delays of FAA certification. One reason is that through decades of experience, they understand the process and have in-house staff who know how the game has to be played. And they still spend a lot of money […]

Nobody who attended Uber’s Elevate conference this week — or watched the live online stream — would come away thinking it’s going to be easy to create autonomous flying taxis, but there’s a good chance you’d be convinced it’s doable. If nothing else, the corporate names were impressive — this wasn’t just enthusiasts and academics […]

You’ve probably heard the term “silo’d” as management consultant-speak for an organization that operates with multiple independent entities that don’t talk to each other. At AVweb, we don’t quite fit that definition but we have a certain intentional insularity. Thus, over the weekend, when I saw early Saturday morning the story of yet another airline […]

Humans love to look for stuff and, in fact, can’t seem to stop once started. The quest for the next bright shiny object is probably coded into our DNA, a vestige from some primeval organism that slithered out of the muck not yet sentient enough to feel the burning need to fly airplanes, but just […]