Aviation Marketing Posts

Given the world’s sorry state and aviation’s place in it, hope for the future is at the coffin corner. To help maintain that delicate balance it is natural to withdraw into–and protect–our little corner of aviation’s di…

Demographers will quickly tell you that a low birthrate combined with an aging population is not the key to a sustainable future for any population. Welcome to the situation that describes the American airmen who hold a current flight instructor ce…

The Cirrus Design folks were in Chicago the other night on the first stop of a 22 city nationwide-tour promoting not only the G-3 version of their top selling airplane, but also a special new version of Garmin’s popular G-1000 avionics system …

When the FAA issued the sport pilot rules in September 2004, it was clear that the new certificate was a stepchild to the FAA family of “real” pilots, you know, the private, commercial, and ATP certificates. The clues? “Real̶…

Reversing the decline of the pilot population “is the most important thing we are addressing,” says Cessna Pilot Center Manager Julie Boatman. “We have several things in development that I’m not quite ready to talk about ye…

Evan Spark’s ran an interesting post the other day about Southwest Airlines and Herb Kelleher, the company’s chairman. Take a look if only to watch this great video of Herb starring in a Southwest commercial 30 years ago. It’s clea…

Pilots are a population in decline. We are getting old and resting our wings, and it saddens me no end to watch the industry trawl yesterday’s fishing grounds for tomorrow’s pilots, most of whom have moved on to places unknown.It’…

Although this interview DayJet’s Bruce Holmes gave the Atlantic.com’s James Fallows has the smell of fluff at a time when customers and industry pundits are clamoring for considerably more substance, it is the best out there about the cu…

Are you serious about a flying career? Then you’ve probably already heard someone speak to the value of a Flight Instructor rating because it offers an opportunity to build flight time until you get hired by the airlines or with a corporation.…

On the ground and in the air, ever increasing fuel costs are eviscerating the disposable income of wannabe pilots and the profit margins of flight schools who teach them to fly. Looking forward, many schools are wringing their hands and searching fo…

Homebuilders have been a bit twitchy ever since the FAA formed an aviation rulemaking committee to take a look at the 51-percent rule (see Homebuilt Aircraft: How Much is More than Half?) Especially anxious were the manufacturers and builders of ai…

AOPA ran a Town Hall meeting in Chicago the other night and Phil Boyer asked the group a penetrating question. How do we convince more people to learn to fly? Despite being a flight instructor and a communicator all my life, I didn’t have a go…

Few events rival EAA AirVenture in capturing the attention of residents here in Oshkosh and nearby towns. The filming of Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, has come close.Like AirVenture, traffic had to fo…

Despite having spent a significant part of my life as a communicator, I know what people think about public relations. Many think it’s fluff. Some call it spin … that magical talent for transforming an often ugly issue into something els…

When talking to him for a previous post, Ercoupe is Affordable Solution to School’s Sport Pilot Needs, Mitch Williams said he had several private pilots with the desire and necessary 150 flight hours who wanted to become sport pilot instructor…

He’s back! Funny how Mr. Know-It-All seems to appear just at the right time, like now when everyone is completely wiped out from 10 days of absolutely awful airline news.So here’s the question. But wait, perhaps I should mention the pri…

Pilots rightly obsess about losing their medical certificates, and too many of them think sport pilot, with its “driver’s license medical,” is an ever-ready, morning-after remedy for this unfortunate event. Nothing could be further…

Commenting on my recent post, LSA Pilots Could Spoil a Good Thing, a JetWhine reader said operating costs were missing from the mix. While LSAs might be pricier than hoped, “they still run at far lower operating costs— making plane ownership f…

Come July of this year, aviation bloggers will find it impossible not to answer the call to our Mecca for the first Aviation Blog Fest in history – I think. In addition to a chance to hang out with many other very cool aviation bloggers and r…

News that a flight school now offers sport pilot training is quick to catch my eye. The March 2008 the Oklahoma Aviator reported that Oklahoma’s Chickasha Wings Inc. had added an Ercoupe 415-C to its fleet, which also includes two Cessna 150s,…

Pilots are a contentious bunch, but if there’s one thing they agree on it is that flying is too expensive. Naturally, they blame the companies that sell them the stuff they want.Affordability was a  primary selling point of sport pilot/l…

Simplicity and affordable flying for fun were the driving forces that sustained the sport pilot/light-sport aircraft effort during its 10-year path to reality. In short, it was supposed to be flying unplugged — stick and rudder, look out the w…

Once the Pentagon chose the Airbus A330 over the Boeing 767 to begin replacing over 500 aging Boeing KC-135 tankers, it was a sure bet that sparks would fly. And they did, within hours of the selection.The Boeing folks of course are really upset at…

When the airlines start hiring, it doesn’t take long for flight schools large and small to start wailing about the shortage of certificated flight instructors. As FAA airmen certificate data proves, this is utter nonsense.More pilots hold cur…