http://www.aviationtoday.com Aviation Today en-us 2013 Sat, 25 May 2013 14:27:33 EDT It’s tough to be a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems these days. Not only are they facing regulatory hurdles to the Congressional mandate to integrate unmanned systems into the National Airspace System (NAS), but the more pressing and immediate threat, for once, isn’t coming... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/editorsnote/Editors-Note-Return-of-the-Drones_78556.html Fri, 1 Mar 2013 0:00:00 EST Typical turn-key lighted panel design from Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing (AEM), Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, includes digital display, tacticle switches and backlit rubber keyboard. Backlit panels and controls are a critical part of cockpit design because they enable equipment settings and... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/System-Design-Effective-Avionics-Backlighting_78550.html Fri, 1 Mar 2013 0:00:00 EST The clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, the ball dropped, confetti was thrown and, the United States teetered on the brink, but did not fall over, the fiscal cliff. It took some last-minute wrangling and tense negotiations, but lawmakers passed, and the President Obama ultimately signed, the American Taxpayer... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/editorsnote/Editors-Note-Back-from-the-Brink_78284.html Fri, 1 Feb 2013 0:00:00 EST The AEEC continues to create value for the airlines, aircraft manufacturers, avionics suppliers and other stakeholders by establishing common technical standards and shared technical solutions that no one organization could develop on their own. Last year, AEEC meetings were attended by more than 2,500... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/Column-Busy-Year-for-AEEC-in-2013_78297.html Fri, 1 Feb 2013 0:00:00 EST Editor Emily Feliz As I write this, the country is perched on the edge of the so-called “fiscal cliff,” a series of deep budget cuts prompted by an impasse in budget talks. Politicians on both sides are pointing fingers, both saying the other side won’t budge and claiming the... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/editorsnote/Editors-Note-Fiscal-Cliff_78146.html Tue, 1 Jan 2013 0:00:00 EST Many years ago, I put together an index of airframe problems and published it as an article titled “Mysterious Noises.” A lot of people have used that information to good effect since then, but with so many technological changes, I thought it was over-due to re-examine the whole problem of how... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/System-Design-Mysterious-Noises-Re-Visited_78095.html Tue, 1 Jan 2013 0:00:00 EST Hurricane, super storm, mega storm, perfect storm, and my favorite, Frankenstorm. All were used to describe the weather event that barreled up the Eastern seaboard of the United States the weekend of Oct. 27, cancelling thousands of flights and closing down some of the nation’s largest airports for... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/editorsnote/Editors-Note-Frankenstorm_77963.html Sat, 1 Dec 2012 0:00:00 EST The RTCA and EUROCAE have released new software certification guidelines that are already having an impact on new designs in the United States and Europe. The venerable DO-178B/ED-12B has been updated and released as a series of seven documents which include the core DO-178C and a set of companion documents... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/perspectives/Perspectives-Cooperation-Key-to-DO-178-Update_77971.html Sat, 1 Dec 2012 0:00:00 EST Over the last few decades the foundation for on-board software, hardware and overall platform and system design assurance slowly but surely has been laid. DO-178B (now C) revolutionized software design assurance, then DO-254 did the same for complex electronic hardware, and finally — two years ago... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/Column-Avionics-and-Rosetta-Stone_77969.html Sat, 1 Dec 2012 0:00:00 EST Hold on, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are coming to civilian airspace near you! Trainers and aviation authorities worldwide are preparing for the forecast boom of civil-use UASs in the next decade. One of the biggest challenges they face in the quest to safely integrate UASs into the airspace is setting... http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/columns/Column-Whos-Flying-This-Plane_77970.html Sat, 1 Dec 2012 0:00:00 EST