Rob Mark

The crisp Michigan air afforded a visibility of at least 30 or 40 miles as we approached Mackinac Island (KMCD) in Ken Ross’ Eclipse 550, N140NE. The airplane sported a jazzy black-and-gold paint job that already had me thinking the flight would be different from the one I’d taken in the original Eclipse nearly eight […]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Saturday placed the first 10 Iridium Next satellites into low-Earth orbit, each with an Aerion cargo package carrying an ADS-B receiver. The launch represents the first successful effort in space to create Aireon’s global ADS-B-based aircraft-tracking system expected to be operational by the […]

U.S. drone owners preparing to earn the FAA’s Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC) required to operate a commercial UAV should find the King Schools’ new Drone Pilot Ground School and Test Prep Course covers everything they need to prepare for the FAA knowledge test. The new course, announced last week, was jointly created with the Association […]

Both UAV novices and experts are invited to enroll in the upcoming Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) online course created to bring students one step closer to better understanding where a drone, as well as the drone operator, can safely fit into the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS). The course begins February 6 and runs through […]

Joseph Sorota, who died last week in Singer Island, Florida, was a guy few people might recognize when they first hear his name. But Sorota’s role within a secret GE engineering team known as the “Hush-Hush Boys” helped the Allies win World War II. More people might remember Royal Air Force officer Frank Whittle, the […]

Pilots operating under Part 91 who have held an FAA medical certificate within the past 10 years will soon have an alternative, voluntary means to certify they are healthy enough to fly, the agency announced today. The FAA said it supports the new rule called BasicMed because it “will simplify our regulations and keep general […]

Drone proliferation doesn’t always mean worrying about collisions between UAVs, people and manned aircraft. Sometimes drone research has its own special silver lining. Like setting endurance records. Falls Church, Virginia-based Vanilla Aircraft’s VA001 set a world endurance record – nearly 56 continuous hours – on November 30, 2016. The record focused on combustion-powered unmanned aerial […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved uAvionix Corp.’s Ping200S ADS-B-capable Mode S transponder. The tiny 50-gram unit, measuring just 59 by 57 by 17 mm, is ideal for drones, high-altitude balloons and nonpowered gliders, the manufacturer says. The Ping 200S also combines low-power drain with a powerful transmitter delivering the same safety and situational […]

Pilots operating aircraft into known icing conditions must always guard against an encounter with super-cooled large water droplets (SLD), blotches of water that exist in a liquid state until they strike something solid, such as an airframe, and turn to ice. SLDs were virtually unknown until they were blamed for the 1994 crash of an […]

Garmin just announced G1000 NXi, a faster, modernized successor avionics suite to the G1000 integrated flight deck that made its debut in 2004. The avionics maker’s receipt of an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) clears the way to begin installing NXi systems in the King Air 200 next month, with approval for the King Air […]