FAA Mobile Clearance 📋, iFly EFB 14.1 📱, Smart Gear Alerts 🎛️
FAA Debuts New Tool for Digital Departure Clearances (2 minute read)
FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau unveiled "Mobile Clearance" at AirVenture on Thursday — a system that lets GA and business aviation pilots request IFR departure clearances through ForeFlight and Garmin apps instead of over the radio, eliminating the transcribe-and-read-back cycle. Jeppesen ForeFlight, which built the capability hand-in-hand with the FAA, says amended and revised clearances push straight to the iPad or iPhone with in-app accept/reject notifications, and a Mobile Flight Plan Closure feature is coming that lets pilots close IFR at uncontrolled fields without hunting for a phone line. Operational evaluations began in Houston in May and expanded this summer to Appleton (KATW) and New Century AirCenter (KIXD), with Kansas City, Nashville, and Austin planned this fall ahead of nationwide deployment in 2027. Starting in August the same tool will also let pilots cancel IFR in-app to transition to VFR.
New iFly EFB 14.1 Brings Dynamic Checklists to Pilots (2 minute read)
Adventure Pilot will soon ship iFly EFB 14.1, headlined by Dynamic Checklists that turn static lists into context-aware cockpit tools — checklist rows surface the relevant frequencies, runway details, altitude references, and ATC cues for the current phase of flight, and tap through directly to the related area of the app. The release also adds VFR Visual Approaches for runway-specific arrivals, Turn-Aware Flight Plans that render smoother speed-aware turn paths, new Vertical Nav and Horizontal Nav instruments, MOS weather data, and a Printable NavLog generated from the flight plan. Rounding it out: an improved Night Mode with updated map/form/menu palettes and expanded custom-waypoint export/import. "iFly EFB 14.1 is about bringing the right information closer to the pilot," said Adventure Pilot VP Juanita Boyd.
Adventure Pilot and MyFirePlane Introduce Smart Gear Alerts (2 minute read)
Smart Gear Alerts is a new iFly EFB safety system that fuses aircraft position, airport, terrain, and waterway data with a direct read of physical landing-gear position, then warns only when the configuration doesn't match the intended landing surface. When it does fire, it speaks the specific hazard and the required action — "Water Landing Detected" or "Go Around! Check Gear!" — rather than sounding a generic tone, which keeps nuisance alerts down. The system requires supplemental hardware to sense gear position and report it to iFly, runs on Android, iOS, and Windows, and is initially going to select iFly EFB fleet customers with installations expected to start in Q4 2026.
Dynon Expands SkyView HDX IFR Package (2 minute read)
Dynon used AirVenture to fill in the gaps around its recently announced integrated IFR GPS navigator, which supports LPV approaches, on-screen flight planning, and coupling to the Dynon autopilot in certified and experimental HDX installations. The centerpiece is the SV-AUDIO-6BTR remote audio panel at $2,295 — two- to six-place, handling up to two com and two nav radios with Bluetooth music streaming, automatic squelch, digital noise reduction, and spatial separation for simultaneous reception, with HDX now able to pick database frequencies for either com and monitor both from the touchscreen. Dynon also introduced a stand-alone 7-inch HDX engine monitor for experimental and light sport aircraft starting at $4,909 for Rotax iS and $5,771 for four-cylinder Lycoming or Continental engines. Two more from the group: an FAA STC for the Trig TT23 transponder covering the Beechcraft V35A and Cessna 206, and an AF-SXM-WX SiriusXM weather receiver for AF-5000/AF-6000 panels at $790 in late 2026.
Skyfarer Unveils New Flight Training Dashboard (3 minute read)
Skyfarer, the marketplace connecting pilots with instructors and flight schools, shipped a batch of features aimed at cutting the time from "I want to fly" to the left seat. The new Tracking Dashboard builds itself from a user's bookings — upcoming and past sessions, booked hours, and aircraft flown down to tail number, make and model, and flight purpose — with students seeing what they booked and instructors seeing the mirror view of what they deliver. Conversations now carry file attachments in-thread (syllabi, quotes, invoices, endorsements, logbook pages), unlocked once a booking is confirmed, and a "highly responsive" badge marks listings whose owners consistently reply fast. Every aircraft-for-sale listing also gained an FAA N-Number Inquiry button that opens the official FAA registry record for that tail number, pre-filled, so buyers can verify registration and airworthiness before sending an inquiry.
Merlin Completes Autonomous Landing At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (2 minute read)
Merlin landed a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan equipped with its Merlin Pilot autonomy system at 10:02 a.m. CDT on July 17 on Runway 27 at Oshkosh — what the company believes is the first autonomous landing of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft in AirVenture history. Merlin frames the demo as moving AI-based autonomy out of test facilities and toward operational use; Merlin Pilot is a full-stack system covering takeoff through landing and has already flown hundreds of autonomous flights at test sites worldwide. The company went public on the Nasdaq in March, completed a Critical Design Review with U.S. Special Operations Command on its USAF C-130J autonomy program, and has introduced Condor for large multi-crew aircraft. The Caravan stayed on display at Booth #19 with an interactive Merlin Pilot simulator.
How to Preflight Your iPad Before Every Flight (5 minute read)
A twelve-item preflight checklist for the tablet, covering battery, backups, databases, and mounting in under five minutes. Practical specifics: start at 100% rather than trusting ship's USB or 12-volt power, and enable Low Power Mode on long flights since it barely affects EFB performance; charge the Sentry, Stratus, or Garmin receiver on the same nightly routine because their endurance is similar to the iPad's. Launch the EFB before engine start while you still have internet — especially after an app update — and verify chart coverage, procedures, nav data, terrain, and obstacle databases using a tool like ForeFlight's Pack. The confidence check: drop the iPad into Airplane Mode (re-enabling Bluetooth for accessories) and confirm you can still pull up airports, charts, and approach plates offline.
Absolute AoA Heated Probe System Earns FAA Approval (2 minute read)
Holy Micro! LLC, a Syracuse, New York avionics manufacturer, received Non-Required Safety Enhancing Equipment (NORSEE) Production Approval from the FAA for its Absolute AoA Heated Probe System, authorized as a supplementary angle-of-attack and stall warning system. The approval lets the company manufacture under 14 CFR 21.8(d) per FAA Policy PS-AIR-21.8-1602; installation still has to go in as a minor alteration or as a major alteration backed by approved data such as a field approval or follow-on STC. One real-world caveat for owners: the heated probe assembly draws appreciable electrical power, so installers are told to verify the airplane has reserve electrical capacity and to run the load testing procedures in the installation manual. As with all NORSEE equipment, it supplements rather than replaces required aircraft equipment.
Federal Audit Finds Gaps In Aviation Cybersecurity Oversight (2 minute read)
A Government Accountability Office report released July 16 found the FAA has not fully implemented its cybersecurity strategy — of seven objectives supporting the agency's cybersecurity goals, three were fully implemented and four only partially — and that responsibilities between the FAA and TSA for protecting critical aviation infrastructure remain unclear. The audit also found the FAA did not report all of its cybersecurity activities and costs to the Office of Management and Budget across fiscal years 2024 through 2026, omitting spending on cybersecurity research and development, which GAO says makes it harder for Congress to judge future funding. The one bright spot: GAO found the FAA's aircraft certification and system security authorization processes generally align with federal and industry practice for addressing cyber risk in avionics and ground systems. Five recommendations went to the two agencies, including a call for TSA to update its cybersecurity roadmap.
ICON Aircraft To Resume A5 Production In 2027 With New Safety Technology (2 minute read)
ICON announced at AirVenture that it will restart production of the A5 amphibious light-sport in 2027, paired with a new flight safety system called ICON Sense developed with Avilution and Skytron Avionics. The system targets the failure mode that has dogged amphibians — landing-gear configuration errors — by adding situational awareness during the transition between runway and water operations on an airplane whose retractable gear and folding wings are central to its design. The restart is the next chapter for a program that filed Chapter 11 in 2024 before its assets were acquired by SG Investment America. Production rates and delivery timelines have not been announced.
Bristell Plans Garmin AXIS Installations (2 minute read)
Bristell is developing Garmin AXIS installations across its lineup, starting with the Classic models in Q4 2026 and the certified B23 family in Q2 2027. AXIS, which Garmin introduced earlier this month as a family of integrated flight displays for certified, experimental, and light sport aircraft, folds nav, com, and audio control into the display itself in its 11.6-inch configurations, with an integrated IFR GPS possible on an approved B23 install. Configurable as a PFD or MFD with engine instrumentation, it offers synthetic vision, airport surface displays, and an emergency control that reaches functions like Garmin Smart Glide. Bristell currently ships G3X Touch avionics; schedules remain subject to certification per model and market, and no pricing or final configurations have been announced.
magniAIR Electric Engines Now Available for Pre-Order for Experimentals (1 minute read)
magniX opened pre-orders for its magniAIR electric engine for experimental and kit aircraft. Final sales packages will offer an integrated magniAIR powertrain with magniX Samson batteries and a full firewall-forward kit for select popular kit planes, including mounts. First deliveries are targeted for 2027, and magniX is integrating the powertrain into a Van's RV-10 scheduled for first flight in early 2027. Later stages of the program aim at electric trainers and light-sport aircraft under the FAA's MOSAIC framework, with type certification as the end goal.
