The Smart Aviator

Cockpit smoke emergencies in air carrier and commercial jet ops are more common than you might think. So common that a company called VisionSafe developed the EVAS—for Emergency Vision Assurance System. Its deployment has been responsible for lots of safe landings in everything from airliners to corporate jets to freighters.

Avionics buyers want options. With roots planted deeply in the experimental aircraft market, Dynon Avionics has been gaining sizable momentum in the current market with a wide range of avionics products for both experimental and certified aircraft.

Flight1's advanced sims offer G1000 NXi realism for Cirrus and Piper pilots—ideal tools for avionics mastery outside the cockpit.

At AirVenture 2025 at Oshkosh, Nighthawk Flight Systems got a lot of attention when it showed a clean sheet integrated avionics suite called Guardian. The Guardian was an attention getter with its tight graphics, thin displays, a liberal IO that works with a large variety of third-party analog and digital avionics, plus a price tag that was said to be under $40,000. Nighthawk Flight Systems (it bought Sandel Avionics a few years ago) promised to start shipping FAA-approved (via an AML-STC) as early as December 2024. Since that's just a couple of months away, we followed up on the project with company CEO Paul Martin, who not only promised a seamless installation and high-level field support, but set aggressive goals for the system's initial certification and growth.

In a hardened insurance market that's causing grief for pilots of complex and tailwheel models, Maryland-based SkyWatch Aviation Insurance has been gaining attention for its modern approach to assessing risk. Using AI models to better match a pilot to a policy, the company has a website utility where pilots enter their information and the program shops for coverage with a variety of underwriters, and buyers can often score coverage on the spot. SkyWatch is credited for working with AOPA to create a senior pilot insurance program to help aging pilots get liability insurance in hopes of stretching their flying careers. To learn more about the company and for an update on the current market (and for tips on aircraft upgrade decisions with insurance in mind), we talked with SkyWatch's senior underwriting manager, Alon Admi.