Fuel at Six-Month Highs and the Quiet Ways Pilots Are Changing How They Fly
100LL and Jet A hit six-month highs in September 2025, and an AVweb poll shows pilots are actively changing how they plan, route, and fuel their flights.
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Every article from Radio Hangar - aviation history, technology analysis, flight training, destinations, and news.
Joby Aviation, the Six-Tilt-Rotor S4, and the FAA Certification Pathway Nobody Has Walked Before
Joby Aviation's six-rotor S4 - 200 mph cruise, 150-mile range, 45 dB overhead - is the most technically mature eVTOL nearing FAA type certification.
VectorOperation Chastise, the Upkeep Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Refused to Stop Building, and the Night Nineteen Avro Lancasters Went to the Ruhr
Operation Chastise on May 16–17, 1943 sent nineteen Lancasters to breach the Ruhr dams using Barnes Wallis's revolutionary bouncing bomb and some of the most demanding low-level flying in aviation history.
TaildraggerReliable Robotics, the Cessna Two-Oh-Eight Caravan, and the Cargo-First Strategy That May Solve Autonomous Aviation's Hardest Problem
Reliable Robotics is retrofitting the Cessna 208 Caravan with autonomous flight technology, targeting cargo routes first - and their certification strategy may be the smartest in the industry.
VectorSolar Cycle Twenty-Five, the May Twenty-Twenty-Four G Five Geomagnetic Storm, and What Space Weather Means for Every Pilot Who Trusts a GPS Approach
The May 2024 G5 geomagnetic storm disrupted GPS, knocked out HF radio, and forced mass polar rerouting - and the sun is still near its peak.
VectorTelluride Regional Airport, the Mesa Strip Nine Thousand Feet Up in the San Juans, and the Departure Off the Edge of the World That Every Mountain Pilot Has to Experience
Telluride Regional Airport (KTEX) sits at 9,078 feet MSL on a mesa above a Colorado box canyon - a bucket-list destination that demands serious mountain preparation.
RampThailand's Queen Suthida flies solo in the Gripen - a royal first for the Thai Air Force
Queen Suthida of Thailand completed her first solo flight in a JAS-39C Gripen on October 8, 2026, becoming the first female Gripen pilot in Thai history.
TowerThe 1911 Wright Model B replica and what the first mass-produced airplane tells us about how far we've come
An airworthy Wright Model B replica - America's first mass-produced airplane - is currently listed on Aircraft For Sale and featured by Flying Magazine as a top pick.
TowerThe Army's DCA Report, the Black Hawk at Three Hundred Feet, and the Chain of Failures That Ended Sixty-Seven Lives
The Army's investigation into the January 29, 2025 Reagan National midair collision identifies three systemic failures that every pilot operating in shared airspace should understand.
TowerThe B-29 Superfortress 'Doc', the China Lake Bone Yard Where She Sat for Forty Years, and the Volunteer Army That Flew Her Home to Wichita in Twenty-Sixteen
The B-29 'Doc' spent over 40 years abandoned at China Lake before volunteers flew her home to Wichita and restored her to flight in 2016.
TaildraggerThe Boeing Three-Oh-Seven Stratoliner, the First Pressurized Airliner, and the Day It Sank in Elliott Bay Before the Smithsonian Could Save It
The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was aviation's first pressurized airliner - and its sole survivor had to sink in Elliott Bay before it could reach the Smithsonian.
TaildraggerThe Cessna Citation CJ One, the Takeoff Fire at Bedford Pennsylvania, and the Two Crew Members Who Walked Away
A Cessna Citation CJ1 crashed and caught fire during takeoff at Bedford County Airport in Pennsylvania; both crew members survived with non-life-threatening injuries.
TowerThe Cessna Four Twenty-One Misfueling Crash, the Rushed Preflight, and the NTSB Finding That Every Piston Pilot Needs to Hear
An NTSB investigation into a Cessna 421 crash traces dual engine failure directly to misfueling and a rushed preflight fuel check.
TowerThe Class D Radio Call, the Standby Trap That Busts Student Pilots, and What FAR Ninety-One Point One Twenty-Nine Actually Requires Before You Cross That Dashed Blue Line
FAR 91.129 requires two-way radio communication before entering Class D airspace - that means hearing your call sign in the controller's reply, not just any response.
PatternThe Electrical Fire in Flight, the Smoke and Fumes Checklist That Runs Counterintuitive, and the Three-Second Decision Window Every Student Needs Before They Need It
Electrical fire in a light aircraft demands immediate action, not diagnosis - here's how the smoke and fumes checklist works and why the master switch is the right first move.
PatternThe FAA LADD Program, the Tail Number That Disappears from FlightAware, and What Aircraft Privacy Means in the Age of the Fifty-Dollar ADS-B Receiver
The FAA's LADD program masks tail numbers from commercial tracking sites, but a $30 software-defined radio can receive the raw ADS-B signal regardless.
VectorThe Fear a Student Doesn't Know They Have, and the Instructor Who Has to Find It
An AVweb piece on unrecognized student fear reveals how anxiety hides behind apparent competence - and what instructors must look for beyond the logbook.
TowerThe Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Fighter Built to Kill the Zero, and the Day David McCampbell Shot Down Nine Japanese Aircraft Before Running Out of Ammunition
The Grumman F6F Hellcat achieved a 19-to-1 kill ratio in WWII and produced the top-scoring U.S. Navy ace in history, David McCampbell, who downed nine aircraft in a single sortie.
TaildraggerThe Inadvertent IMC Entry, the Graveyard Spiral That Develops in Under Three Minutes, and the Pre-Flight Decision That Gives a VFR Pilot Their Only Real Chance
VFR into IMC is among general aviation's deadliest scenarios - learn the physiology behind the graveyard spiral, the pre-flight decisions that prevent it, and the exact recovery procedure.
PatternThe KC-10 Extender, the Excess Defense Articles Notice, and the North African Transfer That Could Put a Three-Engine Tanker Back in Active Service
A U.S. contract notice seeks industry support to reactivate up to four KC-10 Extenders for foreign military sales transfer to an unnamed North African partner nation.
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