Airhart Avionics 🎛️, Garmin GFC Course 🎮, Land Now App 📱
A Look at the First 'Context-Aware' Avionics Platform for GA (8 minute read)
Airhart Aeronautics used its AirVenture debut to show a fully vertically integrated panel — a 31-inch housing with two 14-inch displays, dual flight computers with embedded software-defined radios, and autopilot servos the company builds itself, all sharing a single network connector and a single power connector with no wiring harnesses. Because the system watches every stick input, screen tap, and radio transmission, it builds a running pilot proficiency evaluation across nine phases of flight and feeds an upcoming owner dashboard. The software-defined radios monitor adjacent frequencies the pilot isn't tuned to, producing a live text transcript of ATC headings and altitudes with one-tap autopilot execution, plus alerts when a handoff is missed and the system finds your tail number on the next frequency. The full platform is $49,900 installed with a $5,000 desktop trainer add-on, initially targeting experimental, light sport, and the new Part 22 MOSAIC categories.
PilotWorkshops Goes Beyond Buttonology with New Garmin GFC Autopilot Course (3 minute read)
PilotWorkshops released Garmin GFC Autopilots: Next Level, a 140-minute course in four modules built around progressively complex flights rather than a repackaging of the Garmin manual. Developer Ryan Koch works through takeoffs into IMC, heading-mode behavior on SIDs, APR mode and vertical guidance on approaches and missed approaches, VNAV constraints versus advisory altitudes, OBS/HDG/NAV combinations for textual departures and holds, step-down and non-RNAV approaches. It also covers the traps — why IAS mode helps on turbulent descents, how to anticipate the autopilot's turn direction, and why APR mode does not automatically level the airplane at the selected altitude. It's available at an introductory $99 through Sportys.com and the Sporty's Pilot Training app.
New App Simplifies Pilot Diversion Decisions (2 minute read)
Land Now is a new pilot-built iPhone app that answers one question: press the LAND NOW button and it returns a ranked list of nearby airports instead of making you compare five options on a moving map while flying. The ranking weighs distance, current aviation weather, runway characteristics, and other suitability factors, and each result carries a heading to the field so you can start acting immediately. Developer Daniel Cramer built it around an onboard airport database, so core airport and runway data stays available without connectivity, with live weather layered in when a connection exists. It's $4.99 on the App Store — iPhone only for now.
Garmin Expands SmartCharts To Canada And Mexico (2 minute read)
Garmin extended SmartCharts to Garmin Pilot Premium users in Canada and Mexico, after an initial launch covering the U.S. and the Bahamas. The feature lets you filter a SID, STAR, or approach chart by aircraft type, runway, and procedure transition so the plate shows only the routing, fixes, and crossing restrictions that apply to your flight, with separate controls for frequencies, briefing information, and missed-approach detail. This release also adds Continuous Descent Final Approach paths to the vertical profile view, cold-weather corrections for Canadian and U.S. airports, and climb-gradient data on approach and departure charts. Available now on Garmin Pilot Web and Garmin Pilot mobile version 26.8.
Should pilots buy an iPad with a built-in GPS? (6 minute read)
The cellular iPad's $150 premium buys a dedicated internal GPS/GNSS receiver that works with no cellular plan at all — which is why many pilots buy the cellular model and never activate service. iPad Pilot News flew an iPad mini 6 with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi disabled and measured it: 5-meter accuracy in about 30 seconds from an A320 aisle seat four feet from the nearest window, 4-meter accuracy on a lap in a Cessna with position displayed in under a second, and still usable at 22 meters when set on the cabin floor. The old complaints are gone — no more slow reacquisition after sleeping the screen. When a Sentry is connected, ForeFlight prefers the receiver's roughly 1-meter fix and falls back to the internal GPS about five seconds after the Sentry goes offline. The verdict: a $449 base iPad displays charts as well as a $2,399 iPad Pro, and the ADS-B receiver is the upgrade that actually matters.
Skyfarer Adds Aviation Events (2 minute read)
Skyfarer, the marketplace connecting student pilots with instructors and flight schools, added Aviation Events — a searchable calendar that pulls thousands of U.S. listings curated from public sources including FAASTeam WINGS seminars and nationwide chapter events, alongside organizer-posted entries. An interactive map pairs with a month-at-a-glance calendar, and results filter by event type (air shows, fly-ins, pancake breakfasts, chapter meetings, seminars, webinars), date range, keyword, and location, with a toggle to hide online events. Listings export to Google, Apple, or Outlook calendars in one click. Founder and CEO Nick Tsang frames it as a lapsed-pilot problem — people stop flying because they run out of reasons to go to the airport. Organizer listings are free and publish same-day; ticketing through Skyfarer is coming.
The 100R Avgas Transition to Unleaded (7 minute read)
Days before AirVenture opened, the FAA published a greatly expanded approved model list under Swift Fuels' existing STC for 100R, adding more than 1,200 engine models and 1,600 airframe models. Swift CEO Chris D'Acosta says the covered fleet now burns an estimated 56 percent of the 100LL consumed annually by U.S. certificated piston aircraft, built out from the lower-octane UL94 STC tranche Swift has sold since 2015. Finding your airplane isn't always obvious — decades of mergers mean a Cessna may be filed in the FAA's DRS under Textron — so Swift built an AI-assisted search that accepts engine models, airframes, or obsolete manufacturer names. Every past STC customer, going back to the earliest UL94 buyers, gets an updated packet at no charge with a fuel placard and an under-cowl metal engine tag, which D'Acosta calls a "Forever Avgas STC." About 180,000 of the 225,000 piston aircraft on the U.S. registry are certificated and still need to buy an STC before burning 100R.
FAA Flags 3D Printed Cockpit Accessories As Unapproved Parts (2 minute read)
The FAA issued an Unapproved Parts Notification covering 3D printed accessories that Michael Graham, doing business as MadeByMike3D, sold between May 2024 and August 2025 for installation on type-certificated aircraft without agency approval. The list is almost entirely cockpit and interior hardware — cup holders for Beechcraft Bonanza, Debonair, and Grumman airframes, headset holders, windshield shades, defroster vent components, and yoke grips — with no engine, propeller, structural, or aerodynamic parts named and no reported failures or incidents. The issue is approval status: FAA rules generally require a Parts Manufacturer Approval for articles produced for sale and installation on certificated aircraft, with carve-outs for cases like owner-produced parts. Owners, shops, and suppliers are asked to inspect aircraft and inventories and quarantine anything found until eligibility can be determined.
What Is the Best Source for GPS Overlay on IFR Approaches? (2 minute read)
A pilot returning to instrument flying after 15 years asks where to get reliable rules on flying non-precision approaches with a GPS overlay, given conflicting answers from flight school instructors. The answer points to two FAA documents: Chapter 4 of the Instrument Procedures Handbook (FAA-H-8083-16), which explains when an RNAV (GPS) system substitutes for an out-of-service VOR, DME, TACAN, VORTAC, VOR/DME, NDB, or compass locator, and Advisory Circular 90-108, which defines what counts as an approved GPS receiver. The operative test is on the plate itself — you may fly an NDB approach with GPS only if the current approach plate carries "or GPS" in its title. Worth knowing while you can still practice one: the FAA's IFP Inventory Summary lists just 76 NDB-related approaches remaining nationwide against roughly 6,956 RNAV approaches, and the NDB procedures are expected out of the NAS by 2030.
Satellite Device Guides Cessna Accident Rescue (4 minute read)
Alaska Air National Guard crews rescued three occupants of a Cessna 180 after an Aug. 18 accident near Bettles, about 200 miles northwest of Fairbanks. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center launched the mission on the aircraft's 406 MHz ELT signal, but while a 210th Rescue Squadron HH-60W Jolly Green II was en route from Eielson AFB, the crew received updated coordinates the occupants had sent from a commercial two-way satellite communicator to a Bettles lodge owner, who relayed them. Maj. Tyler Seibold notes the practical gap: a satellite device can put rescuers within about a tenth of a mile, while a 406 MHz ELT fix can leave a search area a mile or more across — and many satellite devices exchange text messages when paired with a phone, letting crews learn occupant condition and site conditions before arrival. Commenters add a fair caveat worth carrying into your own planning: a 406 ELT fed GPS position from the avionics achieves similar precision, and inReach/SPOT/Zoleo SOS functions alert a rescue coordination center directly rather than routing through a friend.
Legacy vs. New-Build Under MOSAIC Phase 2 (6 minute read)
MOSAIC Phase 2 took effect July 24, replacing the old 1,320-pound weight cap with a 59-knot clean stall speed (VS1) test that reaches as much as 70 percent of the current GA fleet — and it opened two very differently priced paths to the same sport pilot privileges. Qualifying legacy airframes like the Cessna 172, Cessna 182, and Piper Cherokee/Archer family keep their standard airworthiness certificates rather than converting to S-LSA, and used 172 asking prices run roughly $12,000 to $599,000 with a median near $129,500. Purpose-built aircraft price like the clean-sheet designs they are: Tecnam's MOSAIK59 line is booked into 2027 with a fully refundable $10,000 deposit just to hold a Q1/Q2 2027 slot, and Bristell's RG runs about $100,000 to $320,000 depending on engine and equipment, with the B23M (1,653 lb MTOW, standard BRS parachute, Garmin G3X Touch) at the top. The financing angle is the underrated part — a 1970s 172 is a known quantity to lenders, while new-production MOSAIC airframes are an asset class for which loss-history and resale assumptions are still being built.
Merlin Gains New Zealand Design Authority (2 minute read)
Autonomy developer Merlin received a Part 146 Aircraft Design Organization certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, letting its own qualified engineers hold delegations to approve certain aircraft design changes instead of routing them through outside design organizations. The scope of delegated work gets negotiated with the CAA separately for each certification project. CEO Matt George frames the economics plainly: "We're building one autonomy stack that goes on many aircraft, which means the cost of certifying the next one matters more than the cost of certifying the first." The certificate applies to Merlin as an engineering organization rather than to a single aircraft program, and it follows the company's Stage of Involvement 3 milestone earlier this month for the Flight Control Computer and Automated Communication System in Merlin Pilot — work the NZ CAA leads in coordination with the FAA under the two countries' Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement.
FAA Issues Airworthiness Directive for Lycoming O-235, O-540 and IO-540 Piston Pins (16 minute read)
The FAA adopted AD 2026-17-10 (Amendment 39-23454, Docket FAA-2026-8789) covering certain Lycoming O-235, O-540, and IO-540 engines with a particular piston pin installed, after several reports of piston pin failure that put metal particulate into the engine oil and led to engine failure. The AD requires replacing the affected piston pin with a part eligible for installation and, for certain engines, an oil change plus visual inspection of the oil filter, oil pressure screen, and oil suction screen for metal particulates. It also prohibits installing an affected piston pin on any engine. Issued as a final rule with request for comments, it takes effect September 14, 2026, with comments due October 13, 2026 — worth a look if one of these engines is in your nose, since the O-540 and IO-540 families sit in a long list of Part 91 singles and twins.
Real-time aircraft tracking comes to Airwise drone platform (3 minute read)
uAvionix and Airwise Solutions integrated uAvionix's FlightLine surveillance service into the Airwise enterprise drone platform and its Nexus common operating picture, rolling out first through Skyway Range, a 1,200-square-mile BVLOS test range based in Tulsa. FlightLine runs on the FlightStation network and collects ADS-B on both 978 MHz UAT and 1090 MHz Extended Squitter, which is what lets it see cooperative aircraft down at very low altitudes where drone conflicts actually happen. The interesting part for anyone building on aviation data: it ships as a secure API into the Airwise platform, so operators skip deploying and maintaining their own ground sensors, and the platform also surfaces real-time FlightStation sensor health and data-quality monitoring. uAvionix VP of Uncrewed Systems Thomas Jimenez calls reliable surveillance data "the cornerstone of scalable autonomous aviation." Available immediately to Skyway Range participants and Airwise enterprise customers.
New Flight Gear Backpack Built Around Starlink Mini (2 minute read)
Starlink Mini solved connectivity in the GA flight deck and created a carrying problem — a terminal plus cables, power supply, and accessories that have to move between airplanes together. Flight Gear's new backpack builds around a custom EVA-molded compartment sized to hold and protect the Mini, with a separate top compartment for cables and power supply and organizer pockets for chargers and adapters. It's still a flight bag underneath: a dedicated headset hangar suspends a headset inside, a padded pocket takes an iPad or laptop, two exterior side pockets handle a water bottle, handheld radio, or backup battery, and an internal gear wall with removable gear mods lets you reconfigure the layout. Practical touches include a high-visibility interior, four exterior webbing loops, a hidden E-Tracker pocket, and a water-resistant bottom with cleats for wet ramps. It's $89.95 at Sportys.com.
