Andrew Schmertz, CEO of Hopscotch Air, Inc and blog commentator makes a comparison between two very distinct industries, Hollywood and the aviation market. Though their differences are clear, he finds there is common ground in their struggle. Read more >>

CityJet, the Irish regional airline which is headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, has recently taken delivery of the very first Sukhoi SSJ100 aircraft in Western Europe during a ceremony which was held in Venice, Italy. This ceremony was held at the SuperJet International, which is the headquarters for the program’s Western aftermarket support and sales partner. The Irish regional airline currently holds a delivery option for 16 SSJ100s and has also agreed to lease 15 SSJ100s. including all of the aftersales services and options, this deal is estimated to be valued at more than $1 billion. Read more >>

The Federal Aviation Administration will begin to expand the Pathfinder Program which focuses on detecting identifying unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) flying too close to airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) just recently signed the Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRDAs) with Gryphon Sensors, Liteye Systems Inc. and Sensofusion with the intention to evaluate procedures and technologies designed to identify unauthorized UAS operations in and around airports. This is all part of the FAA’s Pathfinder Initiative research effort aimed to address one of the significant challenges to safe integration of UAS into our nation’s airspace. Marke “Hoot” Gibson, FAA Senior Advisor on UAS Integration believes that the Government and industry share responsibility for keeping the skies safe because people sometime fly drones in unsafe manners. Read more >>

Just this past week, Lockheed Martin and Israeli Defense officials held a press conference to announce that they have officially begun construction on the first F-35 “Adir” Lightning II for Israel. The F-35A “Adir” (which means “Mighty One” in Hebrew) variant will essentially be the regular F-35 except with a few minor Israel specific tweaks including Elbit Systems helmet mounted displays, Elbit Systems fuselage composite components, and Israel Aerospace Industries wing construction. Read more >>