Matt Thurber
Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Matt Thurber

Latest from Matt Thurber

Airports

Lawmaker Seeks FAA Explanation for SMO Settlement

Rep. Ralph Abraham wants to know why the FAA agreed to allow Santa Monica to close its long-embattled airport in 2028.
Maintenance and Modifications

Robotic Skies and uAvionix Sign Mx Partnership

Members of the Robotic Skies drone service network will provide maintenance services to uAvionix customers.
Avionics

AEA 60th Convention Opens in New Orleans

The AEA show this year features more than 135 exhibitors showing their avionics products.
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Cabin Interior and Electronics

Satcom Direct, Astronics AeroSat Ink FliteStream Deal

Satcom Direct dealers will be able to sell Astronics AeroSat's Flitestream T-Series satcom system under a new agreement.
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Avionics

Cockpit Display Upgrade Offered by L3 Aviation

L3 Aviation's new EFI-650 LCD cockpit display has a mean-time-between-failure of more than 25,000 hours.
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Avionics

Latitude Technologies Adds Voice Safety Services Satcom

Latitude's new Iridium S200-012 satcom is designed for secure voice safety services communications.
Avionics

Avidyne IFD550 Certified, 10.2 Software Upgrade Released

The new software upgrade from Avidyne adds synthetic vision capability to the IFD 540/440, including an exocentric view.
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Cabin Interior and Electronics

FDS Glass Cabin Shows Window to Outside World

Passengers can "look" out of the cockpit on their mobile devices using the new FDS Avionics Glass Cabin.
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Avionics

JetTech Avionics Package Picked for FlightSafety Simulator

FlightSafety clients will soon be able to train like they fly in a Citation 550 simulator equipped with a JetTech Garmin GTN 650/750 upgrade.
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Aircraft

Training in the Icon A5 Amphibious LSA

Does the pilot training program match Icon Aircraft’s ambitious goals? AIN’s Matt Thurber travels to Vacaville to find the answer.
Avionics

Honeywell ADS-B Upgrade Released for Citations, Hawkers

Promotional pricing is available for Honeywell's new Citation and Hawker ADS-B OUT upgrades.
Avionics

Genesys Giving Free ADS-B Transponder to Autopilot Buyers

Buyers who purchase a new Genesys Aerosystems S-Tec 2100 autopilot through June 30, 2017, will receive a free Lynx NGT-9000 ADS-B transponder.
Avionics

Esterline ADS-B Annunciators Released

New 389 series LED cockpit annunciators are designed for ADS-B installations.
Avionics

Gogo Business Aviation Achieves 4G STC

Gogo Business Aviation's Challenger 600 was used to certify the the 4G system installation in a business jet.
Rotorcraft

Concorde Battery Celebrates 40th Anniversary

The battery manufacturer recently opened a new plant in Austell, Georgia.
Rotorcraft

Leonardo TeamUp Brings Support and Training Together

The new TeamUp brand unifies Leonardo's customer support and training efforts.
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Avionics

Universal Avionics Completes InSight System Engineering

The Universal Avionics InSight flight deck will help upgrade aircraft meet modern avionics mandates.
Rotorcraft

Astronautics, Jagid Team on Portable SmartCopter System

The portable ISR system weighs about 80 pounds and can be installed in helicopters and fixed-wing airplanes.
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Rotorcraft

Bell Delivers First 505 Jet Ranger X at Heli-Expo 2017

The buyer of the first customer-delivered Bell 505 Jet Ranger X is Scott Urschel, owner of Pylon Aviation, Chandler, Arizona.
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Rotorcraft

Genesys Wins Flight Deck Upgrade for MD Explorer

Genesys Aerosystems is demonstrating its helicopter flight deck equipped with four IDU-680 displays.
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Rotorcraft

Innovative Bell Shows Radical Rotorcraft

Bell's new FCX-001 concept helicopter offers a glimpse into future rotorcraft technologies.
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Rotorcraft

Bell 525 Prepping To Resume Flight Testing

Bell Helicopter XworX engineers are forging ahead on testing of Bell 525 systems in preparation for the resumption of flight testing.
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Rotorcraft

CMC Introduces CMA-6024 GNSS for Helicopters

CMC is offering demonstrations of its new helicopter cockpit demonstrator at Heli-Expo 2017.
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Rotorcraft

Airbus Continues Product Support Improvements

Airbus Helicopters customers are benefitting from the company's switch to an electronic business model.
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Rotorcraft

Gill Issued PMA for Bell 407 Sealed Lead-acid Battery

The Redlands, Calif., battery manufacturer's sealed lead-acid battery has been selected as standard equipment for the Bell 407 GXP.
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Rotorcraft

HeliTrak's R22 Collective Pull Down Ready to Ship

The collective pull down system lowers the collective automatically in a low rotor rpm situation.
Rotorcraft

Electric Mobility: Coming to a Crowded City Near You?

Research is accelerating on electric passenger-carrying aerial vehicles, possibly leading to new ways to travel in urban environments.
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Rotorcraft

Airbus North America Grows Market Share

Orders include some from 20 new customers, five of which are new helicopter owners or operators.
Rotorcraft

Heli-Expo 2017 Set To Break 2013 Record

This year's Heli-Expo features the new HAI Connect meetup area with demonstrations and presentations, new product demos and hot topic seminars.
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Rotorcraft

True Blue Power Adds Bell 505 as Lithium-ion Customer

Bell's selection of the True Blue Power TB-17 lithium-ion main-ship battery should help lower operating costs and improve availability.
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