Business & GASafety: Throttles-Only Aircraft Control The proverbial pucker factor would have been higher had the pilots of the stricken DHL Airbus 300 been aware of the grim findings of a 1997 NASA technical paper: "Manual throttles-only control…
Business & GAProduct Focus: Satcom Antennas Although Inmarsat is still the No. 1 choice for bizjet satellite communications, the cost of these advanced antennas and electronics systems is high, and the installation is complex. So customers who don't…
Editor's NoteScan FAA's AGHME In preparation for the Jan. 20, 2005, deadline for domestic reduced vertical separation minimum (DRVSM), the FAA Tech Center in Atlantic City, N.J., is completing the development of its Aircraft…
ATM ModernizationSingle European Sky A Single European Sky (SES), with greater harmonization of air traffic control (ATC) equipment and procedures, is viewed as the answer to Europe's present fragmented air traffic management (ATM) arrangement. European politicians…
Editor's NoteSystem Design: The Struggle For Sunlight Readability Almost every avionics designer encounters that one moment when a whole project seems destined to fall off the design cliff because of sunlight readability issues. The indicators can't be clearly seen. The…
Business & GAUAVs Entering the NAS In retrospect, the agreement reached in 1944, called the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation, turns out to have been remarkable for its prescience. Among many parts of the Convention still relevant today…
CommercialProduct Focus: USAF’s Commercial Satcom Most people probably don't know that the U.S. Air Force is a big consumer of commercial satellite communications products and services. Aircraft program offices already have ordered satcom equipment -- for 411…
Business & GAAutonomous Flight Management: A Third Way Pilots who now can choose to fly under visual or instrument flight rules (VFR or IFR) may someday have a third option: autonomous flight rules, or AFR. Using flight plans and aircraft…