Rob Mark

The 2016 edition of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) annual review looks both similar to and different from what U.S. pilots might expect to see here. While considerably fewer aircraft operate within European airspace, hence creating far fewer accidents and fatalities, the challenges pilots face in that region look very much like those facing […]

While critics have, for decades, scoffed at the idea of flying cars, that attitude is beginning to change. Toyota jumped into the flying-car arena by filing a patent for a “shape morphine fuselage for an aerocar” in 2014. The giant autobuilder claims the new aerocar will easily morph from a road-hugging automobile to an airborne […]

While most pilots understand the inherent dangers of operating a motor vehicle — airplane included — while attempting to fire off a quick text message, the FAA says text-based ATC, also known as controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC), is the wave of the future and is taking hold at airports around the United States. The agency […]

Two female pilots from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU) Daytona Beach campus, Emmy Dillon and Abbie Pasmore, last week snagged first-place honors in the collegiate division of the annual all-female Air Race Classic. This year marks the fourth in recent history that ERAU pilots have taken the top collegiate division honors. The 2,716-mile competition crisscrossed much […]

Most pilots will tell you nothing quite beats the operational advantage of a set of eyeballs that are right up close and personal with aviation weather as it happens, especially when some region of the country is experiencing engaging phenomenon like convective or freezing conditions. For decades, a single pilot calling back to FSS or […]

To many AirVenture regulars, Jim Busha and Hal Bryan’s names might not immediately ring a bell. But their new book, EAA Oshkosh: The Best AirVenture Photography, called the “next best thing to being at AirVenture,” may bring back a few memories of past aviation shindigs. Although a book like EAA Oshkosh was a dream for […]

Although Britain’s famed jet aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, will attend all three days of the Farnborough International Airshow next month, the Royal Air Force last week said the team will not perform its standard high-speed display. The RAF said the dynamic aerobatic display using the BAE Hawk T-1 is no longer appropriate due to […]

The FAA says the Terrafugia Transition can now be called a light sport aircraft despite the fact that its maximum weight is 370 pounds greater than the standard LSA 1,430-pound limit. Terrafugia petitioned the agency for the exemption to use the LSA label for a street-legal version of the aircraft back in 2014. Although the […]

A few significant glimmers of hope for general aviation’s future appeared last week during the Aircraft Design and Testing session of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) panel on “Restoring the Foundation of Aviation.” Held June 16 in Washington, D.C., the panel hoped to add a few badly needed doses of reality to […]

Charles Bolden says now is the right time to take a serious look at a distributed electric aircraft that, if successful, will create advanced technologies to reduce fuel burn, emissions and aircraft noise. Bolden is administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA’s new X-57 project, nicknamed “Maxwell,” will be the agency’s first dedicated […]