Business & Military

The fourth Cessna Citation Longitude jet flew for the first time last Saturday and joined the test fleet, Textron Aviation said this week. The jet has a fully configured interior, which will be used to evaluate fit and finish as well as environmental controls, pressurization and other cabin technologies. “In addition to further systems testing, […]

State and local governments continue to struggle with sensible, much less consistent, regulation of unmanned aircraft systems, according to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. Speaking at the AUVSI Xponential 2017 conference in Dallas this week, Huerta said the FAA is has made understanding what state and local governments want and need to regulate drone operations a […]

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 […]

In case you haven’t noticed, computer chipmaker Intel is big on drones and automation in general because it wants to sell the chips that will power those devices. But according to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, it’s not so much the gadgets themselves that are important, but the data that they’ll generate and how it will […]

The restored B-29 Doc made its airshow debut on Saturday, in the Defenders of Liberty Airshow at Barksdale Air Force Base, in Louisiana. “What was really special for us, we were able to meet up with a B-52 in flight, over Oklahoma,” Josh Wells, spokesman for Doc’s Friends, told AVweb this week. “That was majestic. […]

The FAA funding bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump last week is good news for general aviation, according to analyses of the plan by several GA advocacy groups. “We appreciate the strong support shown by Congress in this omnibus measure for general aviation, especially in the critical areas of safety, certification and […]

While autonomous vehicles of all kinds, but especially cars, seem to be just around the corner, they won’t see wide acceptance unless they’re perceived to be at least as safe as airplanes. That’s the thinking in the budding autonomy industry, according to Chip Downing of Wind River, an Intel subsidiary that specializes in embedded software […]

In the world of drones, BLOS—for beyond line of sight—is a Holy Grail of sorts because it can untether unmanned aircraft from ground stations and remote operation, paving the way for true autonomous flight. However, thus far, aircraft manufacturers haven’t developed robust detect-and-avoid technology to allow drones to see other aircraft, including other drones. A […]

The X-37B, an orbital unmanned spacecraft developed by the U.S. Air Force, has landed safely in Florida after completing its fourth mission, spending nearly two years (718 days) in space, the Air Force said on Sunday. “This mission once again set an on-orbit endurance record and marks the vehicle’s first landing in the state of […]

Russian pilots have sent a petition to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alleging that Rosaviatsiya, the government agency responsible for crew certification, is canceling the credentials of hundreds of pilots who trained at private schools rather than those run by the government department. The pilots claim the move is aimed at eliminating competition and […]