AVweb Podcasts

Bob Withrow, VP of Engineering at Scaled Composites, in Mojave, California, says the company will have a major presence at EAA AirVenture this month, and they're hiring.

AOPA President Mark Baker says it would be a disaster for general aviation if the airlines succeed in their lobbying and Congress privatizes air traffic control.

John Langford, CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences, attended Uber's Elevate Summit in Dallas, and offers his take on what it will take to make urban electric VTOL transport a reality.

At the Sustainable Aviation Symposium, AVweb spoke with Pipistrel's modest Director of Research and Development, Tine Tomažic. Dr. Tomažic received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ljubljana and has been with Pipistrel for 16 years as an intern, test pilot and engineer. We spoke with Tine about what electric aircraft can (and can't) do, Pipistrel's fast four-seater, the Pathera, and the most scared he's ever been in an airplane. Listen to our interview below.

With the FAA relaxing certification requirements for avionics in certified light aircraft, Trio Avionics is closing in on approval for its three-axis autopilot, following a parallel path to another company, TruTrak. Both are well known in the experimental segment for capable autopilots.

Able Flight, a non-profit providing sport pilot training to people with significant disabilities, is at Sun N' Fun 2017 educating light sport aircraft makers about the demand for planes adapted for use by persons with disabilities. A basic adaptive airplane requires little more than a hand control for rudders and brakes. Many light sport aircraft already use handbrakes, which eases the conversion. Charles Stites, founder and Exective Director of Able Flight, says, "People are in the market for airplanes. They want to be able to continue flying after they get their license with Able Flight."

AVweb speaks with Paxton Calvanese, maker of the wx24 Pilot app for iOS products, about long-distance flight planning for light GA aircraft, teaching pilots a new way to view weather and future data visualization products.

Piper's share of the training market has slipped in recent years but the current management has targeted it as a growth area. AVweb spoke with COO Jim Funk at Sun 'n Fun about a long list of orders for a full range of training platforms from schools all over the world.

If drones can do pipeline patrol and survey work, why can't a light sport aircraft do the same? That's the question the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association is asking the FAA to consider and the answer may eventually result in an approval for just such work. In this Sun 'n Fun podcast, LAMA's Dan Johnson filled AVweb in on the proposal.

The noise-cancelling aviation headset has been with us for three decades and may have now reached a plateau in further development, according to Allan Schrader of Lightspeed Aviation, which just released the Zulu3, an incremental upgrade to its best-selling Zulu2. But what's ahead for future headset technology? Allan Schrader offers his views in this podcast.