Recent Updates

The annual ultralight-led flight of a flock of whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida has been officially canceled but not for aviation-related reasons as in the past. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday it’s pulling its funding for the well-publicized effort, mostly because it doesn’t work. After 20 years and $20 million spent […]

The Air Force has been plagued by high numbers of drone crashes in recent years amid fast-growing demand for the unmanned systems, mostly overseas. Twenty drones were damaged or destroyed last year, the highest number yet, according to a Washington Post report this week. The latest model – the $14 million, 2 1/2-ton Reaper made […]

Drones have popped up at the major shows such as Sun ‘n Fun and AirVenture and now they’ve become a feature of the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo at Sebring this week. For the first time, the show has a drone demonstration area in a large hangar. (It’s the one with the 727 poking out the […]

“I’m shopping for insurance.” We hear this phrase all the time, but what does it really mean when it comes to protecting your plane—whether it’s still in hundreds of pieces or it has hundreds of hours in the air? It’s not like you’ll be taking a trip to the airplane mall and comparing makes, models, […]

AVweb’s search of news in aviation found an electronic flight manual for Cirrus aircraft, an online course for new drone flyers, an airshow debut for the Legend Cub, and a new takeoff weight for the Airbus H145 helicopter.Cirrus Aircraft announced the debut of their latest innovation in flight training – the Interactive Flight Operations Manual […]

Every show we cover seems to feature one airplane that’s the crowd magnet and at this week’s Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, it’s the Commuter Craft Innovator. This airplane is a canard design vaguely reminiscent of the Long-EZ but with aspirations to be both an experimental amateur built and, eventually, an LSA. Although mock-ups of […]

“Affordable aircraft” are what the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo is touting in its tagline this year, and we’ve found one: the $34,000 Merlin PSA, which Aeromarine LSA debuted at the show. Chip Erwin shows us around the eminently affordable experimental in this video,and you canread more here. view on YouTube

World View, which is developing a high-altitude balloon to carry tourists near the edge of space, will establish its launch site and manufacturing campus at Spaceport Tucson, Arizona. The companyannounced this week it will move in as the anchor tenant ofa new business park after striking a deal with Pima County. World View continues to […]

Excess power generated by turbine engines that now goes to waste could be used to generate electricity, according to researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, in Cleveland. The electricity then could be used to generate additional thrust. “These hybrid systems use electric motors and generators that work together with turbine engines to distribute power throughout […]

Anticipating that Congress will consider changes to how the FAA functions and gets its funding in the upcoming session, 15 general-aviation advocacy groups signed on to a letter today asking the leaders of transportation policy in the U.S. House to hear their “real and long-standing concerns” about the expected proposals. “Some big airlines have pushed […]