ForeFlight Emergency Glide 📱, Starlink in Flight 🎛️, AI Renters Insurance 🤖
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Engine out? How to use ForeFlight's new Emergency Glide feature (4 minute read)
ForeFlight's latest App Store update introduces Emergency Glide Mode, an extension of the decade-old Glide Advisor that turns the existing cyan glide-range ring into a one-tap emergency planner. Tapping the new Airports button activates direct-to navigation to the most favorable runway, surfaces a dynamic instrument panel showing ETE, distance, required descent rate in FPM, bearing, and arrival AGL, and ranks the three best airports by distance, AGL at arrival, runway length, surface, and direction. With no airport in range, the app shifts to off-airport landing analysis, shading suitable terrain in cyan based on USGS land-cover data filtered through five criteria — surface type, trees and built-up areas, terrain slope, nearby hazards like power lines and railroads, and usable strip geometry.
Flying with Starlink: Tips, Setup, and Real-World Performance (6 minute read)
iPad Pilot News tested the Starlink Mini under the new Starlink Roam in-motion plan in a Cessna 182, Cirrus SR-22, Bonanza A36, Pilatus PC-12, and Cessna Citation, and reports real-world download speeds of 50–200 Mbps with 20–40 ms latency thanks to Starlink's LEO satellites at 340–750 miles versus traditional geostationary birds at 19,000 miles. The 12" x 10" Mini antenna runs around $499, accepts a 40W USB-C input, and pauses month-to-month — a much friendlier footprint than the 23" x 15" residential kit at $300–$600. The walkthrough covers mounting (suction cups in the Cessna and Cirrus rear baggage window, the Bonanza glareshield, side windows in the PC-12 and Citation) and contrasts Starlink full internet against satellite text-only options like T-Mobile, Verizon direct-to-cell, and Garmin inReach Plus.
New App Uses AI to Help Pilots Get Aircraft Renters Insurance (2 minute read)
Skywatch has launched a ChatGPT app, available now in the ChatGPT app directory, that lets pilots get aviation renters-insurance quotes through a conversational interface instead of the standard form-based flow. Coverage is sold by the day, week, month, or full year, and the app answers a few qualifying questions before returning a quote in seconds. Skywatch CTO Ori Blumenthal pitched the launch as bringing cockpit-style technology comfort to insurance buying, with renters coverage that "starts with a conversation and finishes in minutes" via Skywatch.ai.
FAA eyeing purchase of Dallas building for consolidated ATC facility (3 minute read)
The Air Current reports that the FAA is evaluating a large commercial office building in Dallas as the site of a consolidated en-route ATC "supercenter," part of the agency's plan to close at least three existing en-route facilities and combine the work onto one campus. Congress earmarked $1.9 billion specifically for constructing the new facility within the broader $12.5 billion ATC modernization "down payment" passed last year, and a Dallas retrofit would be cheaper than a ground-up build. No decision has been finalized — sources told reporter Will Guisbond that Houston is still in the running — but the agency is positioning the consolidation as a way to streamline en-route ops and cut long-term operating cost.
H55 Completes System Safety Verification of Integrated Energy Storage System (4 minute read)
Swiss electric-aviation outfit H55 finished System Safety Function Verification Testing on a fully integrated Energy Storage System (ESS) that bundles its Battery Modules, Battery Management Units, Energy Flow Counter, Protection and Power Distribution Unit, and Charge Control Unit into one architecture. The campaign validated automatic and controlled disconnection of power under fault and off-nominal conditions — a hard requirement for certified flight — and Head of Design Organization Anthony D'Ambrisi framed it as "a major step in de-risking both our technology and our certification roadmap." H55 has been engineering the ESS to EASA aerospace-grade standards from the outset rather than experimental "permit-to-fly" levels, and reports more than 2,000 hours of fully electric flight with zero battery-related incidents across its prior aircraft programs.
Antigravity A1 drone gets major upgrade with AI editing, Voice Control (3 minute read)
Antigravity's "Big Spring Update" for the A1 adds a Voice Assistant that triggers Sky Genie, Deep Track, and Return to Home from spoken commands, plus an upgraded Auto Edit that uses AI to choose shots, smooth camera movement, and synthesize sound effects. On the safety side, the update layers full 360-degree omnidirectional obstacle avoidance on top of the existing vision sensors, and adds a third-person Virtual Cockpit view with refreshed Sky Path markers for pre-planned routes. Antigravity is now selling the A1 in roughly 60 countries and just opened Mexico after a recent Thailand debut, though US availability remains a question mark given DJI-style regulatory headwinds.
Port Authority To Add Vehicle Transponders After LaGuardia Collision (3 minute read)
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will install transponders on fire trucks and other rescue vehicles at LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark following the March 22 LaGuardia runway collision that killed two Jazz Aviation pilots flying for Air Canada Express. The NTSB's preliminary report noted the involved truck had no transponder and was moving with a larger group of vehicles, so LaGuardia's ASDE-X surface-detection system — which fuses radar, transponder, and other data to track ground movements — could not match the aircraft's path with the vehicle's. Port Authority chief communications officer James Allen framed transponder fitment as "an additional layer of visibility" on top of the existing surface-surveillance stack and said the agency is working with the FAA on follow-on safety changes.
Central London hospitals linked by Matternet delivery drones (3 minute read)
Matternet has launched its first UK operation: two-way M2-drone routes connecting two of Central London's busiest NHS hospital campuses for moving lab specimens, pharmaceuticals, and other time-sensitive payloads. The deployment runs in partnership with Apian, a UK firm founded by NHS doctors that focuses on hospital logistics, and is positioned as the foundation for a city-wide NHS drone network. Matternet — which already runs healthcare networks in Switzerland and the US, and remains the only drone-delivery operator with FAA Type Certification — now operates across three continents and four advanced regulatory jurisdictions, with UK Health Innovation and Safety Minister Dr Zubir Ahmed publicly backing the rollout.
Beyond Visual Line of Sight: Shaping the UK Unmanned Aircraft Infrastructure (5 minute read)
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has published its consultation outcome on command-and-control (C2) link policy for Specific-category UAS and certified-category RPAS at SAIL 1 to 3 under the UK SORA framework, a pillar of the government's Future of Flight Industry Group programme. Industry pushed back on rigid application of the 2016 JARUS RLP — drafted when UK mobile networks were dominated by 2G/3G — in favor of leaning on modern standards such as 5G, LTE-M, NB-IoT, and LoRaWAN, plus RTCA DO-377 and DO-278 for ground equipment, with safety-of-flight C2 data clearly separated from mission payload data. CAA confirmed it will treat JARUS RLP as a proportionate framework rather than a bright-line requirement, and that TCP/IP integrity is sufficient for OSO 6 compliance at lower SAIL levels — useful signal for any developer building BVLOS stacks against the UK regime.
