Rob Mark

Frenchman Henri Fabre’s name might not ring a bell to most people. But it just might to pilots operating aircraft that use lakes and rivers as their runways. In 1910, Fabre was credited with the first flight of a powered seaplane at Martigues near Marseille, France. Oddly, Fabre was not even a pilot when he […]

The Canadian government is serious about squashing the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, especially from anyone visiting the country by air. Early last year, Canada strongly advised against non-essential travel, adding that travel restrictions and measures can be amended at any time for public health reasons. The definition of business air travel requires spending some […]

Amazon has become one of the wealthiest companies in the world thanks to its ability to deliver practically anything just about anywhere. That said, it shouldn’t come as any great surprise that the delivery giant has finally taken the first leap toward creating its own fleet of aircraft. This week Amazon announced plans to purchase […]

Most US pilots probably don’t know that an FAA license is required to conduct any kind of commercial space launch or reentry within the United States. Last year, the agency office that issues these permits said it was busier than ever, with 41 commercial space operations launches and reentries. One launch in May, a SpaceX […]

A low spot for me on last year’s calendar—in addition to the daily chaos surrounding the pandemic—was the announcement that the world’s annual trek to Oshkosh had been postponed, the first time in EAA history. I’ve been attending this show each year since I was in high school. Recent word from Oshkosh, however, indicates EAA […]

Textron Aviation recently delivered a mission-ready Beechcraft King Air 350CER turboprop to the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Marine & Aviation Operations (OMAO). NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts and conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. The new […]

The popularity as well as the utility of Cessna’s Caravans—operating on both land and sea—is well known, with nearly 3,000 having been produced since the model series was introduced nearly 40 years ago. It makes sense, then, that a number of companies chose the Caravan as the platform around which to create a supplemental type […]

Accident and incident chains usually follow a similar pattern when a number of innocent errors stack to create an event. Despite 4,400 hours of total flight time, nearly three quarters of which had been logged in Cessna Citation CJs, a US-registered aircraft N680KH nearly got away from its pilot during an April 2019 incident near […]

Paul Hudson has been skeptical of the FAA’s order lifting the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max since that day last month when the agency cleared the aircraft to once again carry passengers in the US. Hudson, president of FlyersRights.org, is one of four plaintiffs named in an action before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals […]

Based on the demands of the current marketplace—as in much reduced air traffic as a result of the worldwide pandemic—Nav Canada is considering reducing the number of air traffic controllers it employs at a handful of locations. In a news release, Nav Canada referred to the review as a method to “streamline the nation’s ATC […]