Blog Posts

Every industry effort to increase the pilot population, from Learn-to-Fly and Be-A-Pilot to the upcoming International Learn to Fly Day, has the same weak link that keeps a program from reaching its full potential: the flight schools, and their inst…

Although the people at Fox News have always been very nice to me when they call and ask for my technical expertise on aviation matters, I must admit I do sometimes dread their calls. That’s because their phone calls usually means something bad has h…

In aviation journalism one never knows with any certainty what topics will capture — and keep — the readers’ attention. During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008 I wrote about Powerplant Development’s Gemini diesel engine (Gemini Diesel Engine Attracts Ind…

FAA’s new administrator for the past 70 days, Randy Babbitt, last week spoke about regional airline safety centered around fallout from the crash of Colgan 3407. The audience in Washington was receptive, helped in part by the fact that they were all…

Qualified professionals to operate the world’s fleet of new, high-technology aircraft are more necessary than ever before, despite a growing proliferation of UAVs. Unfortunately, airline management and their pilots are not always on the same page w…

Ensuring aviation’s future by encouraging more people to fly has been attempted by many programs in the past. Despite their good intentions, their collective results are ultimately measured by the ever shrinking pilot population. But several events …

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh showcases every facet of aviation, making it an excellent indicator of aviation’s emotional and economic health. As a whole the industry has weathered a number of ups and downs since I first started wandering through its many …

Trekking west from EAA AirVenture’s AeroShell Square, past the Nature Center and around KidVenture, my destination was the new Founder’s Wing at the EAA AirVenture Museum. Savoring the cool quiet and subdued light, a line of exquisite 16-by-20-inch…

Broadcasting from high atop the massive MyTransponder mobile HQ the other night on the grounds at AirVenture 2009, I managed to add my two cents to a pretty nice Episode 58 of the Airplane Geeks podcast that I now co-host with Max Flight and Dan We…

Nestled in a corner of homebuilt parking across from the EAA AirVenture forums campus is the small Replica Fighters Association compound. It’s where I annually visit with friends Dick and Sharon Starks of the Kansas City Dawn Patrol. As usual, they…

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is an overdose of aviation happiness. To avoid the pain (sunburn, swollen feet, and locked-up brain caused by information overload) of trying to do and see it all, a week before I make plans, keeping track of everything in Out…

I was a teenager in the 60’s which for me translates into a few key trigger points etched in my mind. The day President Kennedy was shot I was in shop class. When Martin Luther King was assassinated, I was off on active duty with the U.S. Air Force …

My thanks to AvWeek’s Benet Wilson for allowing me a little space on her blog while she was out on vacation. I’ll try and coax her to write something for Jetwhine. Rob GUEST POST: Business Aviation Is Still a Secret Posted by Benet Wilson at …

Several days ago a JetWhine reader, James, emailed this question: How much does recreational flight school cost in Michigan?  What things should I be considering before going ahead? No matter where you live, calculating the cost of learning to fly…

Some folks really believe that the hit of this month’s AirVenture is going to be the arrival of the Airbus A380 at AeroShell Square. And no, the big deal this year is not going to be EAA’s director of public relations Dick Knapinski dancing the Maca…

Living in the land of beer and cheese, I  expect Wisconsin to be up there on the list of states with the most obese populations. After hearing reports on TV and in the papers about a new report from Trust for America’s Health,    F as in Fat 2009: H…

For reasons unimportant here, I look at a lot of airport websites because they are a primary communication channel for anyone who uses or is interested in learning more about them. So I’m on the Airport Information page of the Centennial Airport we…

One thing you never want to do is give me a book to review. I read them quickly, but often take forever to getting around to telling people what I thought of the experience, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the review … at least from the sta…

The politician is an amazing form of life, a shining example that the only reliable human constant is inconsistency–especially when it comes to aviation, specifically smaller airplanes and their airports. Some, like those from Nebraska, get it, and …

Having just traveled to Paris on an Air France A330 a week before the crash of Flight 447, I took a rather personal interest in the crisis wondering whether it might have been the same aircraft I’d flown on the week before for starters and a host of…

Catching up on my reading, the annual report of the Sporty’s Foundation had worked its way to the top of the pile. As I was flipping through the pages I was not really thinking about the good works presented in words and pictures. I was thinking ab…

One of Jetwhine’s earliest supporters – Matt Thurber – sent us this piece, one that I’m happy to publish. Matt is an old friend and a senior editor at Aviation International News, where I’m also a long-time contributor. This piece would be disturbi…

On June 4 the Des Moines Register published an article whose headline said “Tiny Iowa Airports Take Off With Millions in FAA Grants.” To be honest, it’s what you’d expect from a newspaper and reporter whose aviation experience doesn’t extend much pa…

I had the good fortune recently to be invited to ferry a Dassault Falcon 2000LX back to the U.S. – Teterboro in fact – from the factory in Bordeaux France. It was my first Atlantic crossing and certainly gave me new respect for the work it takes to …