Business & Military

That we live in interesting times is made ever more evident by an email I got from reader Matthew Sawhill following last week’s fatal crash of a Tesla Model S being operated on the car’s much-touted autopilot feature. Conceding that cars aren’t airplanes, Sawhill asked: “Why can’t the auto industry and mass media learn from […]

Unmanned aircraft capabilities took a big leap forward when an expert fighter pilot found he was no match for ALPHA. The artificial intelligence system was developed by Psibernetix, founded by a University of Cincinnati graduate. Gene Lee, a retired Air Force colonel taking part in the research, told UC Magazine this week that ALPHA is […]

The first trailer for Sully, the movie based on the ditching of US Air Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009, was released Thursday. It doesn’t take as long to watch as the 208 seconds it took Capt. Chesley Sullenberger and his FO Jeff Skiles to pull off the so-called Miracle on the Hudson […]

AVweb‘s search of aviation news found announcements from Duncan Aviation, EPS, Cessna Pilot Centers andPower Flow Systems.Duncan Aviation has partnered with ACSS to participate in the launch of the NXT-700 transponder and the development of the Approved Model List (AML) Supplemental Type Certificate. The NXT-700 is a Mode S transponder that satisfies the DO-260B mandate […]

The world’s most powerful rocket, designed for future manned spaceflight, had a successful startup test this week – the latest milestone for NASA’s Space Launch System. This final qualification ground test at an Orbital ATK site in Promontory, Utah, allows NASA to plan for a first unmanned test flight with its Orion spacecraft in 2018 […]

A new pavilion that doubles the exhibit space available at the Museum of Flight in Seattle opened to the public last weekend. The nine-story-high, three-acre roofed outdoor gallery also includes a cafe and a children’s play area, which features a miniature airport terminal beneath the wings of the first 747 Jumbo Jet. Fourteen other rare […]

China’s first regional jet made its first revenue flight on Tuesday but it seems unlikely the aircraft will find any customers outside the country’s sphere of influence. The ARJ21-700 operated by Chengdu Airlines took 70 passengers from Chengdu to Shanghai. “The first flight of the ARJ21 marks the beginning of commercial, or passenger, operations for […]

It might seem that in an age of instant online weather, the need for pilot reports, or pireps, would be a thing of the past, but that’s far from true, according to a recent NTSB forum. “Pireps done right have enormous untapped potential to make aviation safer for pilots, passengers, and people on the ground,” […]

The Falcon 8X is now EASA-certified, Dassault Aviation announced this week, and FAA approval is expected to follow by the end of next month. The design, based on the company’s 7X, offers the longest range of any Falcon jet, up to 6,450 nautical miles, and the biggest cabin, almost 43 feet long. “Feedback from the […]

As the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union settles in, we sought out a general aviation perspective from across the Atlantic from Thomas Borchert, editor of the German-language fliegermagazin and from Ian Seager, publisher of the U.K. Flyer magazine. From Germany The overwhelmingly major benefit of the EU for GA pilots has been a […]