general aviation Posts

Note to the World’s Best Readers / Listeners – You now have the option to listen to the Aviation Minute podcast or read the text below. If you receive Jetwhine via e-mail, you can click here to listen as well. One obstacle to learning t…

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen at AirVenture this year?” For the past 15 or 20 years, this is the question I dread because I never have an answer for my interlocutors. Don’t get me wrong, I find many things inter…

If you receive Jetwhine via e-mail, click here to listen to the program.____________________________I was working on a couple of a stories related to the Malaysian Airlines tragedy over the weekend when an idea popped into my head. The Nall Repor…

At American airports these days is hard to find a good word from pilots about their aviation future. After covering the 57th Sonex Aircraft Builder’s Workshop at the company’s Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hangars it seems clear I’ve been lo…

First let’s talk a little reality … Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), or drones as most of us refer to them are coming … and they’re coming soon. That’s not necessarily all bad though. Drones can operate in places that are…

Memorial Day here in the United States is one of the days we remember all the men and women who served and perished in armed conflicts around the world since our own Civil War in the mid-1800s.The stories emerging about how poorly we treat these me…

I like hanging around with other flight instructors. Not only do they understand how an airplane flies, but they also know the intricacies of those dark corners of a flight envelope … things that can lead a new pilot down a rabbit hole of trou…

When the FAA tells you they’re changing the way they conduct business because they want to be more fair to someone, or that they want to save money, it’s probably time to duck. You can pretty much be sure that whatever they have in mind …

From the first time we looked up, what has attracted humans to flight is seeing the world from the perspective of a bird. That attraction still drives many of us, but how we achieve this first-person view (FPV) has changed with technology. If you do…

Le Tourneau University introduces 6th grade girls to aviation opportunities.In case you missed it, last week was Women in Aviation Worldwide Week, and this past weekend Women in Aviation International held its 25th annual International Women in …

If curiosity got you past the headline, stick with me for a few more words for an idea that might help save general aviation. If you’ve attended EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, even for a day, most likely its passionate enthusiasm dispersed a yearR…

Taking a Bite Out of Those GA Accident StatisticsWhenever a flight instructor finishes up a training session with a GApilot — new or old — they always hope that pilot really understood the lesson before they head out on their own. An in…

Although we’ve never met face to face for more than a few moments at EAA AirVenture, Paul and Victoria Rosales and I have been friends for more than a decade. After building their Van’s Aircraft RV-6A, Paul made its first flight on July …

When people call me a “Geek” these days, I accept it as a term of endearment, especially with the advent of social media. In fact, that’s why our radio show’s called The Airplane Geeks. It’s actually pretty cool to be a…

Every aviation blogger I’ve ever met is certain they possess a magic grasp on their own little corner of the industry, which is of course why we all do what we do.Some bloggers are just better writers than others, or better marketers of their…