Recent Updates

At the AUVSI in Orlando on Monday, I ran into my old friend Jon Doolittle, long-time pilot and aviation insurance broker. I shouldnt have been surprised that hes branched out and started selling insurance for UAVs. Of course, the underwriters are baffled about what to charge for such coverage because theres no loss history worth […]

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International opened its annual conference and show this week in Orlando. AVweb was there and spoke to AVUSI president Michael Toscano about the state of the industry. view on YouTube

At the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International show in Orlando this week, dozens of UAV companies are displaying the latest in drone technology. In this exclusive AVweb video, Prioria’s Derek Lyons shows us a cool one – a carbon-fiber bird called the Maveric. view on YouTube

Defense contractors are investing heavily in politicians as a means of stemming looming cuts to the military. Bloomberg is reporting that political contributions by the top ten contractors went up by 29 percent in advance of the 2014 midterm congressional elections over the same period in 2012. The next crop of politicians will preside over […]

Just as a combination of radar, transponders and active traffic systems improved flight safety for manned aircraft, the UAS industry may benefit from different twists on the same technology. At the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International show in Orlando this week, General Atomics, the maker of the Predator UAS, explained its novel approach to […]

If the UAS industry thought the FAA might be about to relax its stance toward enforcement actions against illegal drone operations, the FAA on Tuesday removed any doubt. The FAAs Jim Williams, who heads the agencys unmanned aircraft integration office, told several hundred attendees at the AVUSI show in Orlando that the agency will continue […]

An FAA official has told representatives of the UAV industry that it may be 2020 or later before the agency has a comprehensive set of rules governing small pilotless aircraft. Forbes aviation blogger John Goglia wrote last week that Jim Williams, speaking at the Small Unmanned Systems Business Exposition in San Francisco, said that although […]

A regional airliner on approach to Tallahassee, Fla., in March nearly collided with a drone, an FAA official said on Thursday. Speaking before a drone conference in San Francisco,Jim Williams, head of the FAA’s UAV office, said the near-collision occurred at about 2300 feet nearTallahassee Regional Airport in Florida. The flight was operated by USAirways, […]

A year ago Diamond Aircraft laid off more than 200 employees at its London, Ontario, Canada plant, cutting the staff to 40 and prompting other aircraft manufacturers, notably Bombardier, to hire skilled Diamond workers. Now, according to the London Free Press, staffing has reached 130, thanks to diversification that includes manufacturing aviation parts. Its a […]

Sikorsky Aircraft has been awarded an initial $1.24 billion contract to develop and build six new U.S. presidential helicopters based on the model S-92, the first step toward a fleet of 21 new aircraft by 2023, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday. The award capped years of efforts by the U.S. Navy to replace the current […]