Recent Updates

Video camera maker GoPro Inc. will enter the burgeoning drone market with its own camera-equipped unmanned aerial systems in late 2015, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.GoPro, which sells small high-definition cameras in the $200 to $500 range, is developing multi-rotor helicopters to sell between $500 and $1,000, according to the report. […]

The European Union is clarifying tax rules for foreign-registered business aircraft flying in European airspace. A working paper was issued this week by the European Union and its eventual implementation is expected to end the confusion, according to NBAA. Many owners of aircraft registered in the U.S. and other countries were unsure whether their operations […]

Transport Canada just released some proposed guidance on the commercial operation of light unmanned aerial systems. Drones. If you haven’t had a chance to look it over, here’s the link (PDF). I suggest at least skimming it. (I’ll wait while you do that.) Clearly, our friends north of the border have come adrift from reality […]

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said Sunday that rulemaking planned for the end of this year on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) will focus on aircraft certification and “qualifications” of pilots. “I can’t say what is going to be in it but broadly speaking, what we are looking at are all the questions relating to how we […]

Transport Canada has released the details of its new rules governing the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems. As we reported last month, the agency, the equivalent of the FAA, announced a significant liberalization of so-called “low threat” UAS operations. Those were generally described as line-of-sight operations below 300 feet in rural areas away from […]

CNN Money says Lockheed Martin and Boeing are working on a supersonic airliner designed to fly legally over land. The report says the aircraft will carry 88 passengers at Mach 1.6, or about twice as fast as regular jet airliners. That’s a little slower than the Concorde, which last flew a little more than 11 […]

Diamond Aircraft’s first DA42 Twin Star has a new home in Austria’s science and industry museum, theTechnisches Museum Wien in Vienna. The twin-engine diesel airplane had its first flightin December 2002 in Austria with Diamond CEO Christian Dries as test pilot. A year and a half later, the DA42 made the first nonstop Atlantic crossing […]

The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators announced Friday that Executive Director Doug Stewart will retire when his contract expires in February. Stewart was among the founding members of the organization, which formed in 2009. Stewart was SAFE’s first chair and was named executive director in November 2011. “I fully expect to remain connected to […]

The president of the world’s second largest AOPA pilots group is retiring sometime in 2015. Kevin Psutka, president of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA), will step down as soon as a replacement can be hired, COPA said Thursday. Psutka, a former RCAF navigator and reserve pilot, has been in the job for 18 […]

AVweb’s search of new developments in aviation uncovered the latest test flight of CIrrus Aircraft’s jet, a first flight for Airbus’ latest military helicopter, and acquisitions announced by Continental Motors and Momentum Aviation Holdings. Cirrus announced the successful first flight of their second certification flight test aircraft, C-One (C1), in their Vision SF50 personal jet […]