Tag: Faa

Back in January, Intel set up a very cool nighttime drone program that had the flying machines festooned with colored lights and flying in unison. There were 100 drones in that show and they flew in tune with music played by an orchestra.

With Christmas on Friday, you can bet that lots of folks around the US will be getting a shiny new drone under the Christmas Tree. Consider this a PSA that could prevent you from being fined thousands of dollars and potentially sent to prison.

To become a licensed pilot, one needs a recent clean bill of health from an FAA-certified Airman Medical Examiner, to spend about $5,000 on pilot’s education, pass a test on the legalities and physics of airplane flight, log 30 to 40 hours in a plane with an instructor (although most do about 70), fly solo under an instructor’s supervision, and take a flight test.

Back in March of this year, we mentioned that the FAA had agreed to re-examining restrictions on gadgets during commercial aircraft flights. The FAA announced this week that it has formed a government-industry group to study the use of certain consumer electronics devices during flights.

The FAA cleared the iPad and other devices for use in cockpits of commercial aircraft by pilots late last year. The approval was made to reduce the load on pilot by allowing them to have digital copies of charts and flight manuals rather than roughly 30 pounds of books with them every flight.

The FAA has announced that it has cleared the Apple iPad for use in commercial flights in all stages of the flight by pilots. American Airlines has conducted tests of both iPad and iPad 2 for all phases of flight for the last 6 months, it has been deemed it safe for flight.