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About me
My name is David Cenciotti and I was born in Rome in 1975. I'm a freelance Aviation Journalist, Writer, Geek, Expert, Evangelist & Guru. I'm a private pilot, a former 2nd Lt. of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) and a graduate in Computer Engineering.
As a freelance journalist I’ve been writing since 1996 for major worldwide magazines covering military and civil aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime, and cyberwar.
My work has appeared on Air Forces Monthly, Revista Força Aérea, Fighter Tactics, Combat Aircraft, Aeronautica & Difesa, Airline, RID, Rivista Aeronautica, Airplanes and Tech News Daily, and I'm regularly interviewed by newspapers, televisions and radios.
Find out more information about my articles, books, interviews, citations and reports published all around the world here: http://theaviationist.com/newsstand/
and follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cencio4
My pictures have been used not only to illustrate my articles, but also for magazine’s front covers, squadron and air forces’ calendars, websites, brochures and books.
During my career as a journalist, I have had the opportunity to fly with many aircraft (from supersonic jets to combat helicopters) and I'm one of the few civilians proudly wearing the “1 flight hour on the TF-104” patch to witness my flight with the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. 
I’m the author of four books; among them, the famous best-seller "Frecce Tricolori - an exciting 50 year flight" published by DeAgostini in 2010, the only official book of the Italian Air Force for the 50th Anniversary of the Frecce Tricolori display team.
As an Information Security opinion leader and expert, I have been working for more than 10 years with large organizations analyzing their network architectures, assets, threats, security requirements and procedures, to manage their risks by means of proper countermeasures. I'm a Lead Auditor ISO 27001, ITIL v3 certified, and I have several more professional certifications.
This weblog is a place to talk about Aviation, Defence, Information Security & Cyberwar, and much more.
It gets +3.000 unique visitors each day from all around the world.
Contact
If you want to contact me, send me an email at the following address:
My Flickr photostream
The official Frecce Tricolori 50th Anniversary book
My new work, the official book of the Italian Air Force for the 50th Anniversary of the Frecce Tricolori display team will be soon available. 128 pages 44 x 30 cm.
Visit this site for more information in the following weeks (copies of the book signed by the author will be available only for copies ordered through this website.
To order a copy, click here
Il mio nuovo libro, la pubblicazione ufficiale dell'Aeronautica Militare per i 50 anni delle Frecce Tricolori sarà disponibile prossimamente. 128 pagine, formato chiuso 44 x 30 cm, copertina rigida con sovracoperta. Visita questo sito per ulteriori informazioni (le copie firmate dall'autore saranno disponibili solo per ordini eseguiti attraverso questo sito).
Per acquistare il libro cliccare qui
Italian Starfighters
If you want to work with me send me an email explaining your project and needs.
If you need one of my pictures for articles, books, websites, advertising, etc, just send me an email.
David Cenciotti’s weblog
- U.S. drones and spyplanes involved in information gathering missions over Syria. As in Libya one year ago. More or less… February 21, 2012More or less one year ago, we were observing an increasing activity of U.S., British, French and Italian military spy planes perfoming information gathering missions along the northern border of the Tripoli FIR (Flight Information Region). Quite silently, those SIGINT (SIGnal INTelligence) platforms flew in the Maltese airspace to eavesdrop into Libyan commu […]
- Exclusive Infographic: all Cyber Attacks on Military Aviation and Aerospace Industry February 21, 20122011 has been an annus horribilis for information security, and aviation has not been an exception to this rule: not only in 2011 the corporate networks of several aviation and aerospace industries have been targeted by digital storms (not a surprise in the so-called hackmageddon) but, above all, last year will be probably remembered for […]
- Here’s the M-346 in Israeli Air Force colors February 21, 2012As reported in a previous post, Israel has selected the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 as the advaced trainer for combat pilots designated for front line fighter jets. Since the Italian plane will replace the aging Israeli Air Force A-4s, based on the camouflage color scheme used on the Skyhawk, Al Clark has drawn a digital mock-up […]
- Photo: in a world of overall grey planes, a (rare) Tornado IDS-HARM in camouflage color scheme February 20, 2012Nowadays almost all the NATO combat planes (special colors aside) wears overall grey low visibility color schemes. Therefore, old fashioned camouflage color schemes are extremely rare. One of the last Italian tactical aircraft to wear a “camo” scheme is this Tornado IDS-HARM in a picture taken recently by Giovanni Maduli at Decimomannu airbase. Tagged: 155 [ […]
- Photo: Lockheed Martin F-35′s first mission with external weapons February 20, 2012On Feb. 16, 2012, an F-35A aircraft from Edwards AFB, California, flew for the first time with external weapons. Although no weapons were delivered during the sortie, the payload of the Joint Strike Fighter’s Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL) variant in this test mission included two AIM-9X air-to-air missiles on the outboard wing stations, two […]
- U.S. special operations plane crashes in Djibouti killing four crew members February 20, 2012On Feb. 18, 2012, a U.S. spy plane crashed six miles from Djibouti International Airport during “a routine flight.” As a consequence, all four U.S. military personnel on board, belonging to the 319th and 34th Special Operations Squadrons, and to the 25th Intelligence Squadron, both based at Hurlburt field, Fla., died. The accidednt occurred around […]
- [Updated] Air Force Special Operations Command using Russian encryption software on made-in-China iPADs February 20, 2012Even if they might be called to face Chinese and Russia almost everywhere between Middle East and Asia (or even perform missions inside China or Russia in a less likely WWIII scenario), the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) planes will fly those special operations relying on products developed and sold by some of more […]
- Rare behind the scenes video of Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer operations February 19, 2012The following interesting video shows daily operations at the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer, belonging to the 72nd Bomber Squadron at TAB-7 in Shiraz. Mission briefing, dress rooms, flying clothing as well as a taxi ride by a journalist in the Fencer (this explains why he doesn’t wear a flight suit). […]
- The Agusta Westland AW159 Wildcat’s sea trials on HMS Iron Duke February 19, 2012The Royal Navy’s next generation of light utility helicopter, the Agusta Westland AW159 Wildcat prototype (serialled ZZ402) has recently been at sea for the first mini-cruise with HMS Iron Duke. Although it looks similar to the final variant of the Lynx Mk8 externally, the AW159 is much different from its predecessor: it is built using […]
- Alleged killing of two Indian fishermen in anti-piracy operation sparks diplomatic crisis between India and Italy February 19, 2012Two Italian Navy riflemen belonging to the San Marco Battalion, are currently under custody in India pending the investigation about the alleged killing of two Indian fishermen 30 miles off the southern Indian coast on Feb. 15. The two military were on board the merchant ship Enrica Lexie as Military Security Team on Italian ships […]
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