Recent Updates

As important as batteries are, the brushless DC motors that power electric airplanes are just as critical. In this brief AVweb video, Siemen’s Frank Anton explains how they work. view on YouTube

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo,VSS Unity, has completed its first supersonic, rocket-powered flight, the company announced last week. The aircraft was carried to a launch altitude of about 46,500 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains by the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, then released. After a few seconds of glide, Unity’srocket motor was engaged, and the pilots placed the spaceship […]

As Sun ‘n Fun opens Tuesday, Bose announced a new noise-cancelling in-ear headset called the ProFlight Aviation Headset. The new product, Bose’s first aviation headset since the A20 was introduced in 2010, is aimed at the cabin class and turbine market, whose cockpits have lower noise levels. See a full video on the new headset […]

Ellen Stofan has been named director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Stofan begins her tenure April 30. She brings more than 25 years’ experience in space-related organizations and a deep research background in planetary geology. She is the first woman to hold this position. Stofan was chief scientist at NASA (2013-2016), serving […]

Fresh from showing its M600 turboprop for the first time at Chile’s FIDAE exposition, Piper is touring the airplane throughout South America and seeing signs that the aircraft market is waking up. Piper’s Latin American sales executive, Dan Lewis, told AVweb that the company has tripled its sales forecast for Brazil and demand in the […]

Electric Airplane Lessons Would I take lessons in an electric airplane? I might take initial instruction for a private pilot ticket or instrument rating in an electric airplane. The basics of angle of attack and so on won’t change because of the power plant but I simply cannot see advancing to cross country work in […]

In a week during which five military crashes killed seven service members, an article in the current issue of Newsweek raises questions about funding, training and maintenance in U.S. military aviation units. “The number of service members killed in noncombat aviation was 37 in 2017—almost double the 19 who died in 2016,” the piece states. […]

The FAA is looking for a few companies to supply near real-time processing of airspace authorizations for drone operators. The idea behind the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system is that it will streamline the approval process for routine Part 107 drone flights below approved altitudes in controlled airspace. So far, LAANC has […]

The Collings Foundation’s iconic B-24 sustained minor damage in a bizarre incident that shut down a runway at Dallas’ busy Love Field this week. The aircraft was on a takeoff roll when debris, possibly concrete from the runway, entered the cockpit of the historic World War II bomber, hit the copilot in the hand. It […]

Now that Qantas has airplanes that will safely make the 17-hour hop from Perth to London, the airline has turned its attention to keeping passengers healthy and comfortable on those long-haul legs. Using innovations in lighting and temperature control, lower cabin altitude and meal selection, Qantas aims to reduce one of the biggest complaints of […]