Business & Military

A story in Monday’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required)says the FAA’s proposed rulemaking on commercial use of unmanned aerial systems will face so much backlash that it could take years to enact. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal says the big sticking point will be the requirement for a private pilot certificate for commercial UAS pilots. […]

I’m quite certain my first encounter with the word “disruptive” was when Sister Claire used it in a note to my parents to describe my behavior in second grade phonics class. If only she knew the depth of her prescience, she could have made a killing in the stock market. Now, the word has taken […]

Airbus has filed a patent for a futuristic “flying doughnut” design for a passenger aircraft, the Daily Mail reported this week. The patent drawings show a circular cabin with seats arranged in a “doughnut” pattern, and a delta wing plan. The design aims to overcome some of the problems associated with pressurizing the traditional “flying […]

AVweb’s weekly search of the news in the world of aviation turned up new leadership roles at Honeywell Aerospace, Key Air, the board of Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems. Honeywell Aerospace has appointed Justin Ryan president of BendixKing, effective January 2015. Ryan will lead the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Honeywell […]

Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace successfully tested an unmanned K-Max helicopter in simulated firefighting exercises, the companies said this week. During the demonstration, a small VTOL Indago quad-rotor drone effectively identified hot spots, and provided data to an operator who directed the unmanned helicopter to autonomously extinguish the flames. In one hour, the helicopter lifted […]

Boeing launched its ecoDemonstrator 787 in Seattle this week, to start flight-testing more than 25 new technologies aimed at improving fuel efficiency and reducing noise. The new round of testing, using 787 Dreamliner ZA004, will evaluate software and connectivity technologies related to operational efficiency, remote sensors to reduce wiring, aerodynamic and flight control improvements for […]

Airbus will build five new Beluga transport aircraft, the company announced this week. Only five of the large-transport airplanes exist, all of them operated by Airbus to transport large aircraft components between production sites in Europe. The original fleet was based on the A300, but the new airplane will be based on the A330 widebody, […]

Canadian GA groups are hoping to head off changes to federal law they say would give the minister of transport unprecedented powers to dictate the operation and development at all the country’s aviation facilities, even the smallest privately owned airstrips. The groups say they were surprised when two short paragraphs showed up in a sweeping […]

Heavier-than-air Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) flight has been around since not long after the Wrights began wowing the world with airplanes. The first (horribly unstable) quadcopters flew in 1907-however, the desire for a device to lift humans straight up into the sky and whisk them elsewhere is probably as old as conscious thought […]

Giant e-tailer Amazon seems to be getting more serious about delivering packages with unmanned aerial systems. This week, the company posted a detailed help-wanted notice seeking an engineer and/or pilot with experience in UAS development and a background in FAA certification projects. Recall that late last year, Amazon unveiled a test project in which small […]