AIN Blogs

AIN Blog: iPads Are Missing in the World of Aircraft Simulation
March 30, 2011 - 6:10am
Matt Thurber

The rapid uptake of Apple’s iPad into business and even commercial aviation cockpits has been stunning. So, too, has been the deployment of applications that do everything from displaying moving maps with geo-referenced (own-ship) position on airport, en route and approach charts to providing terrain awareness and pre-flight (and soon in-flight) weather. 
AIN Blog: The Limits of Air Power over Libya
March 30, 2011 - 5:36am
Chris Pocock

The air campaign over Libya has rekindled the debate about what exactly air power can accomplish without “boots on the ground.” 
SMS: FAA Folly or Beneficial Concept?
March 29, 2011 - 2:10am
Matt Thurber
...

Feedback on my safety management system article in AIN’s March 2011 issue exhibits the mixed feelings that business aviation users continue to have on the subject of SMS. One of the elements of the article that readers didn't like is the photo of the Citation CJ2 that ran off the runway at Atlantic City's Bader Field on May 15, 2005.
ISTAT Becoming America’s Air Show (Sans Aircraft)
March 16, 2011 - 11:12am
Gregory Polek

This week’s International Society of Transport Aircraft Traders (ISTAT) conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., drew some 1300 attendees–a new record.
AIN Blog: ISTAT Becoming America’s Air Show (Sans Aircraft)
March 16, 2011 - 9:58am
Gregory Polek

This week’s International Society of Transport Aircraft Traders (ISTAT) conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., drew some 1300 attendees–a new record.
Heli-Expo 2011: Flying the Bell 407GX
March 7, 2011 - 11:08am
Mark Huber

As we zip over I-4 at 500 feet agl, Bell Helicopter test pilot Randall Parent discusses the helicopter terrain alerting and warning system (HTaws) and helicopter traffic collision avoidance systems (HTcas), which are part of the new Garmin G1000H panel inside the Bell 407GX. “For a helicopter pilot, these are the kinds of things that are going to keep you alive,” Parent tells me.
WSJ swats at Bloomberg's bizjets
March 1, 2011 - 6:00am
Nigel Moll

The Wall Street Journal has been a vital tool for people who didn’t make their money by winning the lottery, and the publication certainly has its fans here at AIN. Its jingle was once "The daily diary of the American Dream," so one has to wonder why the paper, in its Valentine’s Day edition, skewers a billionaire for making his appointed rounds in a business aircraft?
AIN Blog: The Airborne Intelligence Conundrum
February 8, 2011 - 6:10am
Chris Pocock

When it comes to defense coverage, AIN naturally focuses on airborne systems and platforms, including some very high-tech stuff, of course. But my visit to the Defence Geospatial Intelligence Conference and Exhibitionin London last month was a reminder that what happens on the ground is equally, if not more, important.

FAA still not policing Part 91 management companies
January 24, 2011 - 11:13am
Chris Broyhill

There is an irony apparent in the events following the February 2005 Challenger accident at Teterboro. Investigators nearly ignored the primary cause of the crash, as the NTSB focused primarily on 14 CFR Part 135 operational control issues and the lack of FAA oversight as the secondary causes.
AIN Blog: Is the U.S. Recycling Saudi Petrodollars into Weapons Sales?
January 10, 2011 - 5:57am
Chris Pocock

I have long suspected that the main U.S. purpose in supplying huge arms packages to Gulf countries is to recycle petrodollars. Uncle Sam pays heavily for its reliance on imported oil, but offers in return a shopping list of shiny new weaponry from the U.S. defense industry. Like kids in a candy store, the Arabs take up these offers, although with not enough thought given to how they might absorb and operate the kit. 

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