Are Drones a Threat to Aircraft?

While pilots typically love the freedom afforded by flying in the open skies, that wide, open space may appear to get smaller and smaller as more drones take to the air. Recently published research commissioned by the FAA finds that high-speed collision between an airliner and a drone is more damaging than bird strikes. In [...]

By |December 11th, 2017|Aviation News|Comments Off on Are Drones a Threat to Aircraft?

Model Planes: The Gateway to Aviation for All Ages

Model airplanes allow children and adults to get up-close and personal with aviation without becoming a pilot or buying a plane ticket. Models made to scale can mark the beginning of a journey into aviation through its history and fascinating stories associated with real life versions of a plane. Assembling model airplanes requires patience, skill, [...]

By |August 23rd, 2017|Aviation History, General Aviation|Comments Off on Model Planes: The Gateway to Aviation for All Ages

Are Pilotless Planes in Our Future?

Utopia: a place of ideal perfection. Tall, bright buildings between smooth highways surrounded by green grass. Driverless cars making seamless lane changes. Computers performing jobs better than humans ever could. Appealing as this may sound, real life is a bit more… messy. Pilotless planes seem like something taken out of a Utopian society that will [...]

By |June 12th, 2017|Aviation News, General Aviation, Technology|Comments Off on Are Pilotless Planes in Our Future?

Plane of the Week: Piaggio P.1HH Hammerhead

Nicknamed the HammerHead, the P.1HH looks like a mythical beast flying through the sky; and, naturally, it’s status in modern aviation is a mysterious one, indeed. The “P” stands for Piaggio Aerospace, the multinational aeronautical engineers headquartered in — you guessed it — Italy. Piaggio, though lesser known in the states than some American manufacturers, [...]

By |March 10th, 2017|Aviation History, Plane Of The Week|Comments Off on Plane of the Week: Piaggio P.1HH Hammerhead

How Animals Influenced Drone Design

Nature has always been fascinating to us. The way it changes from one year to the next and season-to-season cannot be compared to anything else in this world. It changes and adapts, and we are always working to change and adapt with it. Nature has influenced humans on a number of things: from housing design [...]

By |February 27th, 2017|Aviation News|Comments Off on How Animals Influenced Drone Design

The History Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 3: The Cold War

For the rest of The History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles series, you can read Part 1: WWI here and Part 2: Interwar Years & WWII here.  Post-WWII: Evolution of Target Drones and Reconnaissance The Cold War Immediately after World War II ended, the Cold War began. The Soviet Union and the United States were two global superpowers: [...]

By |December 12th, 2016|Aviation History|Comments Off on The History Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 3: The Cold War

The History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 2: Interwar Years & WWII

To read The History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 1: WWI, click here.  Post-WWI: Target and Assault Drones Interwar Years After World War I, the aviation industry advanced exponentially. These advancements (particularly within the air transport sector) hindered the testing and operation of unmanned systems. As post-war hostilities decreased, so did military interest in unmanned flight; [...]

By |November 23rd, 2016|Aviation History|Comments Off on The History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 2: Interwar Years & WWII

The History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 1: WWI

When we think of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), it’s easy to limit our thought to present-day UAVs—after all, drones have been receiving a lot of media attention lately. While modern drones and remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) have become critical to the US Military due to their advancements, the development of such vehicles is, like so [...]

By |November 14th, 2016|Aviation History|Comments Off on The History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Part 1: WWI

How Drones Might Save the Endangered Black-Footed Ferrets

All it might take to save black-footed ferrets is some vaccine-coated M&Ms Just last week we posted on the topic of drones and how their role in wildlife conservation is rather ambiguous: do they help with conservation efforts or do they cause harm to wildlife? For the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), drones may [...]

By |July 14th, 2016|General Aviation|Comments Off on How Drones Might Save the Endangered Black-Footed Ferrets

2016 Farnborough International Airshow Launches

If you're into aviation, there's no better place to go this week than the Farnborough Airshow--that is, of course, unless Britain is a little out of your flight plan. From July 11-17, all the best in aviation will be unveiled 40 miles southwest of London. Biennial Showcase The Farborough Airshow takes place at the Farnborough Airport [...]

By |July 11th, 2016|Aviation News, General Aviation|Comments Off on 2016 Farnborough International Airshow Launches