Articles
Stories and explainers on how software earns its place in the sky.
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How deeply does the FAA get involved, and what gets delegated?
Your program may hear that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be “highly involved,” that a designee will handle the software, or that a lower software level means little review. None of those phrases is a complete review plan. The real question is how the certification authority will obtain enough visibility to make its compliance…
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What decides whether you use DO-178B or DO-178C?
You are starting a new software program—or reopening a legacy baseline—and the same question appears almost immediately. Many teams brace for a simple answer: DO-178C is newer, so DO-178B must be obsolete. Aviation certification is more deliberate than that. The version that applies is set by your program’s certification basis and the means of compliance…
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What decides your DO-178C design assurance level?
If you are planning a DO-178C program, one question quickly becomes expensive: which software level applies? It is tempting to answer from the code—how large, complicated, or new it looks. Certification starts somewhere else. The system safety process sets the minimum software level from the severity of the failure conditions the software can cause or…
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What Happens When the FAA Looks at Your Software? SOI Reviews, Explained
The FAA’s four Stage of Involvement (SOI) reviews aren’t audits to survive – they’re maturity gates timed so mistakes are caught when they’re cheapest to fix. A plain-language walkthrough for small teams.
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How Aviation’s Software Standard Grew Up: The Rulebook Behind Every Flight
How a hard-won safety standard — DO-178 — grew from aviation’s first airborne software into the rulebook behind nearly every modern flight.
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Why DO-178C Costs More When Compliance Starts Late
Learn why retrofitting DO-178C evidence forces teams to recover requirements, rebuild traceability, repeat verification, and revisit design decisions.
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What does DO-178C certification cost a small company?
There is no sticker price for DO-178C. What actually drives certification cost for a small avionics or software shop – assurance level, verification effort, tools, and audits – and where small teams overspend.
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How a Computer Built to Reach the Moon Ended Up Flying an Airplane
A Moon-landing computer’s second act over the California desert — and the flight that changed what it means to be safe in the air.
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Why Planes Still Fly on Decades-Old Software — and Why That’s a Good Thing
Stability isn’t stagnation. What aviation’s careful pace of change teaches every industry about trusting critical software.
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What Keeps Your Flight Safe? Understanding Aviation Software Certification
A plain-language tour of the standards and reviews behind every line of code that flies — no engineering degree required.