Business & Military

The FAA is taking too long to draft its rules for unmanned aircraft systems, and should go ahead and allow some limited UAS operations, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said this week. In areas such as around powerlines or pipelines and above rural farms, UAS operations could commence with little risk to manned […]

The military is already flying autonomous aircraft, and the private sector is eager to exploit this new technology. Michael Toscano, president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, explains to AVweb’s Mary Grady why he thinks the FAA should reassess the risks and stop slowing down progress. Duration: File Size: download here

Aviation insurance broker NationAir Aviation Insurance released its annual analysis of the aviation insurance market. It said it believes 2013 marked another year of relatively soft market (low) rates in all sectors of general aviation and that attention to expenses by insurers mean rates should remain stable going forward.While the market conditions have remained the […]

Lee Aerospace has been reacquired by its founder, Jim Lee, after 14 years as part of the Triumph Group Inc. The Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft window, sheet metal and composite structure operation will again be known as Lee Aerospace Inc. Jim Lee projects a solid 2014 and announced the shipment of the first of its large […]

It’s not the same Eastern Air Lines of old, but a new company that acquired the brand in 2009 has moved into office space at Miami International Airport. The new Eastern also said this week it has filed an application with the U.S. Transportation Department to start operations, and will soon start working on Part […]

Boeing is building airliners as fast as it can and the result is a modest increase in the number it was able to deliver in the last quarter of 2013. The company cranked out 172 of its 737s, 777s and 787s in those three months, up from 165 the previous quarter thanks to increased production […]

Beechcraft has signed an agreement with the Royal New Zealand Air Force to provide 11 T-6C Texan II turboprop military training aircraft, plus spare parts, two simulators, training, logistics, and maintenance support, the company announced this week. “As the Royal New Zealand Air Force began the process of modernizing its pilot training capabilities, we were […]

Letter of the Week:Overregulation to Blame Regarding the “Question of the Week”: GA was in decline long before the recession and will not recover to its glory days until the cost of aircraft ownership comes down. A new single-engine piston basic trainer currently costs the same as a Ferrari. This is due to a long-standing, […]

The Air Line Pilots Association will pay $53 million to settle a lawsuit in which former TWA pilots alleged the union failed to properly defend their seniority rights. The pilots were working for TWA when it was bought out of bankruptcy by American Airlines. Many of the TWA pilots were put on the bottom of […]

Tyson Weihs, co-founder and CEO of ForeFlight, has announced the release of version 5.6 of ForeFlights intelligent app for pilots. Highlights of the update include enhanced flight plan filing options-including ICAO flight plan form support-as well as complete worldwide coverage for military pilots. Significantly, ForeFlight now primarily files flight plans directly via the modernized Lockheed […]