AVweb Insider

In addition to the comments you see here on our blogs and news stories about aviation events of the day, we get a small trickle of background e-mail with questions, suggestions and the occasional Molotov cocktail. I got one of the latter last night from a reader who allowed as how I was a disgrace […]

I have always been fascinated by World War II and especially by the history of the Manhattan Project. And that leads inevitably to the B-29 Superfortress and Paul W. Tibbets, whose arc through history put him at the point of two of the war’s biggest projects-the bomb and the bomber that would deliver it.Although it’s […]

Being a certified, card-carrying reactionary member of that special interest group known as general aviation, I am just as capable as the next guy-no, more capable-of reacting with outrage when our industry is put upon by the government. But I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity crank and yesterday’s fiasco with the […]

In my experience, “keynote speech” is sedative by another name. I will confess to having snoozed through more than one of these, with my eyes open and evidence that I actually scribbled notes to write about my waking moments. But Jack Pelton’s address to the Aircraft Electronic Association meeting in Dallas was a cut above […]

During Continental’s press conference summarizing its fuel research into a replacement for 100LL, I had the odd feeling of waking up from a bad dream. As we reported this week, Continental’s idea is that maybe the industry can get by on a fuel called 94UL-essentially 100LL minus the lead. They’ve embarked upon a series of […]

I guess the biggest question I have about the nomination of Randy Babbitt as FAA administrator is what took so long. What I hope is that given the enormity of the other issues facing President Barack Obama’s administration, that the comparatively trivial matters of airspace modernization and FAA funding simply took a back seat. If […]

In my blog last week, I tossed some darts at the Air Force for its cheesy power play to grab a rare F-82 Twin Mustang that belongs to the CAF. After a week of reflecting on this, I now realize that not only was I absolutely right, I have now discovered the real reason the […]

If you’ve been around aviation for a while, you’ve no doubt seen the impact of all kinds of charitable efforts — over a million kids took their first flight in a GA airplane thanks to EAA’s Young Eagles program, and thousands more are learning about science and technology thanks to a hands-on project provided by […]

Adults.Every organization needs at least one. But it looks like the U.S. Air Force Museum is coming up one short. I’ll get to the adult part in a moment, but first the reprise.Earlier this week we reported that the Commemorative Air Force lost a court fight with the Air Force Museum over custody of one […]

With everyone worrying about both the cost and availability of leaded avgas, the reporting we’ve done on Swift Fuel, a proposed replacement, has generated plenty of interest, not to mention questions. The lead-off query: Is this stuff for real?From the outside looking in, it’s always difficult to judge the credibility of projects like this. People […]