50 Years of Chinese Aviation Knockoffs
These Chinese aircraft look familiar, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
These Chinese aircraft look familiar, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
A new search and rescue (SAR) program called Enhanced Special Reporting Service (eSRS) is being tested in Alaska. The program uses GPS tracking devices in an effort to reduce SAR response times. Pilots on a VFR flight plan using GPS tracking devices such as SPOT and Spidertracks can participate in the program and additional devices […]
As more and more technology is welcomed into our formerly round-dial cockpits, many pilots have expressed growing frustration over the lingering need to do some things the old-fashioned way. In the new, high-tech cockpit, flat-panel screens, all-electronic flight instruments and portable, tablet-size computers with built-in GPS dominate our must-have lists. Along the way, these much-welcomed advances have helped simplify the pre-flight planning task. But much of the information we need for every flight remains stuck in the abbreviated, ALL CAPS format used when DC-3s and J3 Cubs were the cat’s meow. The notice to airmen (Notam) function is perhaps the best/worst example of how international regulatory agencies have failed leveraging new technologies to improve dissemination of flight-critical information. But now, thanks to an unlikely set of circumstances, an overhaul of the Notam system is underway. Here’s what’s going on, why and what you can expect.
Thursday, October 11, 2012, a floatplane capsizes in Glen Lake, New York. The two pilots that were in the aircraft escaped without injury. The local emergency services were activated. After ensuring the safety of the pilots, a volunteer dive team decided that they would flip the aircraft back over. After attempting unsuccessfully for many hours, […]
It was big news when ForeFlight recently added native support for the X-Plane PC simulator allowing armchair pilots to use their iPads with the sim software. This was a great enhancement – unless you happened to fly with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X. Now, a pilot with a background in software development has created a simple […]
December 1 marked the 40th anniversary of the formation of Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., an entity with a rich history in aviation that succeeded in bringing the Dassault Aviation’s business jets into the growing market in the United States. The company, which is a subsidiary of Dassault Aviation of France, was established as a joint […]
If current research makes headway, viable supersonic technology may be in our near future.
Imagine, high above you, the sleek silhouette of an airplane with a shape more like that of some futuristic spacecraft from a Hollywood blockbuster. You can clearly make out the long, lance-like nose, steeply swept wing and powerful engines as they blast this 21st-century private jet through the stratosphere at twice the speed of Concorde. […]
As Congress works to integrate drones into American airspace, questions and concerns surrounding the UAVs abound.
Are you concerned about the sky gradually becoming filled with windowless aircraft controlled by someone miles (maybe even states) away? You’re not alone. But it may be that the real “threat” turns out to be less about midair collisions and more about increasingly complicated and restricted airspace rules to accommodate remotely piloted aircraft operations. They […]