Recent Updates

California Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have made criminals out of those flying drones illegally. The Los Angeles Times reported the bill, which resulted from the grounding of air tankers when hobby drones were spotted near wildfires, seems to have been rejected by Brown for economic and philosophical reasons, saying creating […]

A blue-chip consortium of aircraft manufacturers, aviation groups and associated industry companies and organizations is calling for a global carbon offsetting program to make aviation carbon neutral by 2020 and to “halve aviation’s net emissions by 2050, compared with a 2005 baseline.” At the Global Sustainable Aviation Summit in Geneva last week, the Air Transport […]

When Andy Weir’s novel, The Martian, appeared in 2011, the concept was already going against the flow. In an age when smartphones and tablets have reduced the average attention span to 10 seconds or less, here was a story in which science—real, serious and plausible, if not entirely always accurate science—was the star vehicle to […]

The structure of an airplane and its systems are only as strong and reliable as the joints holding its components together. The strength of a joint is dependent not only on the properties of the fasteners, but on the design of the joint itself. The way the fasteners are loaded, the strength of the parts […]

The drone industry and other GA groups made another public push this week for the FAA to move ahead with commercial regulations for unmanned aerial systems. Wednesday was the date set by Congress in 2012 to complete the rulemaking process, but in recent months it has been apparent that the FAA wouldn’t be ready. Twenty-nine […]

AVweb’s search of aviation news around the world found a new drone industry awards program, a first Girls In Aviation Day, a training pipeline for American Airlines jobs, and leadership changes at King Schools. The drone industry announced the launch of the Unmanned Air Systems Technology & Innovation Awards. The awards are open to all […]

Doc’s Friends launched this week a 30-day Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise money for completing the restoration of the B-29 Superfortress “Doc.” The aircraft, which is nearing certification and began its engine testing earlier this month, is awaiting an FAA airworthiness certificate. Doc’s Friends hope to have the B-29 take a first flight by the […]

Anyone who’s been watching the torturous progress—if it can even be called progress—of the Third Class medical revision can be forgiven for a certain amount of cynicism. Many of us, I think, have given up completely, so much so that earlier in the week, I demurred from even writing about it again. I figured I […]

The U.S. Senate passed a bill late on Tuesday, one day before funding was due to run out, that will extend current levels of funding for the FAA through the end of next March. The House already passed a similar measure on Monday. The bill now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign […]

The FAA has signed new agreements with EASA and Transport Canada that will make it easier for TSO-approved changes to aircraft to be accepted by the FAA. “The agreements will eliminate duplicate processes, get safety-enhancing equipment installed on aircraft more quickly, and save time and money for both industry and the regulatory authorities involved,” the […]