Blogging Posts

No one in aviation has escaped the recession, but it seems that some companies are better set up to deal with it because they pursue an old fashioned business model: listen to your customers, do everything in your power to meet their needs, and grow…

I was privileged to have been invited to fly the Airbus A380 in Toulouse last week. I think it took about 4 seconds for me to decide when I was asked if I wanted the job of flying, evaluating and then writing up my findings on a few new pieces of on…

After reading reports of faltering flight schools, I wandered over to the Fox Valley Technical College’s aviation campus on the Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to see how things were going in flyover country. Not so bad, it see…

Aviation history is written by the triad of people, planes, and places, and news about any of the three always catches my attention. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently published its 22nd annual list of the nation’s 11 Most …

Ever since I can remember personal flying has always represented the lion’s share of the general aviation fleet and hours flown, measured by the FAA’s annual GA and Part 135 survey. The most current data is for 2007, well before the econ…

New Yorkers often stand as a national litmus test of just how tough Americans can be in a crisis. The weeks and months after 9/11 showed us that even they have their limits although most found a place somewhere to bury those ugly days.In just a few…

Across the aviation arc on the Internet many have bemoaned the April 9 passing of the old control tower at the Wittman Regional Airport, better known to the world by its location–Oshkosh. Photographers from the organization that  calls OSH ho…

The world watched in awe a few months back as Capt. Sullenberger put a US Airways A320 just where he wanted it – well so to speak – on the Hudson River, close by to a half dozen small boats that allowed for the quick rescue of all aboard…

The failed suicidal cross-country flight of 31-year-old Adam Leon drew a lot of media attention here in Wisconsin. When it was clear that he was approaching Madison (he never got closer than 5 miles), Governor Jim Doyle ordered the capitol evacuate…

Most airline passengers understand that pilots are required to qualify initially through FAA guidelines, are also required to regularly undergo a physical exam just to make sure some small problem doesn’t lead to incapacitation aboard a flight…

Roaming around the online aisles of Sporty’s Pilot Shop looking for something to keep my head in the sky while the economy has me tied to the ground, I ran across the “Download Center.” Curious, I gave it a click, expecting I’…

Until the 1980s, most pilot saw homebuilding as a lunatic fringe. Its stereotypical practitioners were older guys with rough hands and patched jeans rooting around in airport boneyards, looking for a deal. And then a funny thing happened: the produ…

For writers, any kind of writers, the big league means writing books. My first foray came 20 years ago when Tab Books – eventually absorbed into the McGraw Hill network – gave me a chance to write about something I held near and dear to…

A recent New York Times’s article, “Drones Are Weapons of Choice in Fighting Qaeda, ” added to the mounting evidence that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are changing the face of military aviation. This is especially true in the U.S. Air …

Measuring the health of U.S. flight schools is easy. Grab the latest General Aviation Manufacturers Association Statistical Databook and see how many student pilot certificates the FAA issued last year. The most recent number is for for 2007: 66,79…

In the spirit of my last post, Share Thumbs-Up Moments With Everyone, I just discovered a new air taxi company, ImagineAir, founded by two flight instructors who met at Georgia Tech. Based in Lawrenceville, just outside of Atlanta, ImagineAir made i…

If you haven’t heard, the Internet and blogs like JetWhine are killing print journalism. Slowly, community journalists, everyday people with an interest in their community, are becoming our primary source of news. If you doubt this, watch TV …

Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee this morning, but I’m not sure how to take an article in the current issue of Wired, “Air Repair: Key to Eliminating U.S. Flight Delays? Redesign the Sky Over New York City.” It reminds me o…

I don’t know what makes me more angry, the story in the Wall Street Journal that claims investigators are pointing the finger of blame at the pilots of the Dash 8 Q400 in the Buffalo crash a few weeks ago, or that from a pilot-training perspec…

A confirmed rotorhead, I recently invested some unexpected free time looking into the NTSB’s public hearing on Safety of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Operations. I didn’t have the time to watch four days of video availabl…

After reviewing thousands of comments about the fed’s proposed policy and procedural changes affecting the 51-percent rule, the Amateur-Built Aviation Rulemaking Committee completed its mission, submitted its final recommendations to the FAA,…

Like a lot of aviators, I like to read about the problems faced by other pilots to learn how they dealt with them, and to refresh my memory of lessons I’ve already learned. A number of aviation publications present these scenarios, but none be…

The JA Air Center opened its new four-building campus, which covers 150,000 square feet, on December 1, 2008. As the airport’s primary FBO, the company had to add flight services–charter, training, and aircraft rental–to its well …

Manufacturers of light-sport aircraft have not escaped the recession. According to several reports, this segment of the aviation industry has not been hit as hard as the manufacturers of heavier general aviation airplanes and the LSA fleet grew by 3…