Recent Updates

New technologies that could detect and perhaps also take control of drones that fly too close to airports are now being studied by the FAA, the agency said in a news release this week. The FAA signed agreements with three private companies — Gryphon Sensors, Liteye Systems and Sensofusion — that have developed technology and […]

Two companies, Tailwind and Cape Air, are working to secure FAA approval to fly seaplanes out of Boston Harbor, providing service to Manhattan, the Boston Globe reported today. Both companies plan to fly nine-passenger Cessna Caravans on floats. Both also promise 90-minute service, direct from downtown to downtown, substantially beating the current options — train, […]

It has again become fashionable in some aviation circles to assert that if only we could return to ways and days of yore by getting rid of some or all of the Federal Aviation Regulations and those who enforce them, all would be well and general aviation would zoom into sunlit uplands and robust financial […]

Hydrogen fuel cells have long been discussed as a potential power source for vehicles, including aircraft, and researchers at the German aerospace center, the DLR, believe that technical barriers can be overcome in the near term to make hydrogen a practical fuel source. Speaking at the first annual Sustainable Aviation Foundation symposium in Redwood City, […]

When I was listening to some of the presentations at the Sustainable Aviation Foundation symposium this week, it occurred to me that much of what I was hearing was simply an extension of the AUVSI event I covered earlier in the week. The lines between general aviation, manned aircraft in general and autonomous aircraft are […]

Airplanes that fly themselves already exist and the accepted wisdom is that we’re not too far from the day when all airplanes will be robotically operated. But maybe not. At the first annual Sustainable Aviation Foundation symposium in Redwood City, California, three experts in the field were asked about the immediate prospects for commercial autonomous […]

Early-year new aircraft shipments are down in 2016, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s latest report. For the first quarter of this year, total GA airplane shipments fell 3.7 percent compared to 2015, GAMA reported Friday (PDF).Piston aircraft remained relatively steady with 191 shipments for the first quarter of 2016, with 193 for the […]

An unmanned airplane made a successful first test of cloud-seeding operations in Nevada, adding a new kind of industrial-use experiment to one of the nation’s FAA-designated UAS test sites. The UAS, which weighs less than 55 pounds and has a wingspan under 12 feet, flew for about 18 minutes last week and reached 400 feet, […]

AVweb’s search of news in aviation found announcements from jetAVIVA, Flightdocs, Kansas State Polytechnic and the Upwind Foundation. jetAVIVAannounced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Kansas Aircraft Corporation, a highly respected aviation sales firm based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Flightdocs Inc., global provider of aircraft maintenance tracking services, announced the release […]

The FAA will stand up a new advisory committee for the drone industry beginning sometime this summer, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in New Orleans, Huerta said the committee will be modeled after a similar panel organized to funnel industry opinions into the emerging […]