Recent Updates

The U.S. Department of Transportation has chosen ten state, local and tribal governments to participate in the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program (UAS IPP). The selected governments are located throughout the U.S and will work with private sector participants to collect information on drone operations. “Data gathered from these pilot projects will form […]

Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to create a program to bring more people into the aviation maintenance workforce. If it passes a House vote, the Aviation Workforce Development Pilot Program Bill, H.R. 5701, would provide grants of up to $500,000 for activities that support aviation maintenance workforce development. Twenty aviation […]

Uber is looking for an international launch city for its UberAIR aerial ridesharing program, the company announced at its second annual Uber Elevate Summit on Wednesday. Uber has issued an open call for interested governments to submit a formal Expression of Interest by July 1, 2018. From there, Uber says it will begin conversations with […]

Flight sharing via app has been stymied so far for private pilots in the U.S., but the idea has taken root in Europe in the last few years, and is continuing to grow. Rules developed by EASA (the European Aviation Safety Agency) now allow GA pilots to share costs with up to five passengers. Tony […]

China’s government is moving forward with plans to build a commercial-scale plant to produce hypersonic engines for both military and civilian aircraft, according to a recent report in the South China Morning Post. The scramjet engines could produce speeds up to Mach 5. The project will bring together the expertise of the Institute of Mechanics, […]

A Canadian sister company of Viking Air Limited, which builds the CL-415 Aerial Firefighter, has launched the Viking CL-415EAF, called the Enhanced Aerial Firefighter. The company will convert and modify 11 acquired CL-215 firefighters to the upgraded turbine version that provides the basis of the EAF. The company said finding qualified staff for the project […]

A decade of low interest rates on aircraft loans continues to stimulate aircraft sales, but worries about inflation are pushing rates up, says Airfleet Capital, a leading aircraft lender. While no spikes are expected short term, the market is definitely headed higher, says Airfleet’s Jim Blessing. In this podcast recorded last month at Sun ‘n […]

Mechanic Shortage Regarding legislation that creates a program and funding to help with the shortage of aviation mechanics, I submit something that is a factor in the equation. Several weeks ago in the Phoenix area there were protests demanding the minimum wage go to $15 per hour. McDonalds was targeted by supporters of pending legislation. […]

You can say a lot of things about light sport airplanes, but one of them isn’t that the sky has been darkened with 1320-pound wonders. Sales remain modest at best and a company selling 30 or 40 a year has a smash hit. Now comes new startup Vashon to reset that equation with a heretofore […]

At Sun ‘n Fun 2018, Epic Optix showed off a new low-cost HUD for light aircraft. In this follow-up coverage, AVweb learns how the new device works. It’s designed to attach to the aircraft glareshield without need for formal approvals. view on YouTube