General Posts

Fly-in pancake breakfasts have been a grassroots aviation staple for nigh on a half century or more. Most of them are hosted by EAA chapters or local flying clubs, which is why the feast hosted by the Fox Valley Technical College at its aviation cam…

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 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…

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…

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…

Showered daily with foul news about the economy overall–and aviation in particular–I wasn’t looking forward to talking with a dozen avionics shops across the country for a magazine assignment. Hearing bad news first hand would be …

Designing, testing, certifying, and producing a new aircraft engine is never an easy process. A sour economy that sends investors into hiding just makes the process that more challenging. But the three-cylinder, six piston diesel/Jet A  Gemini…

Reveling in good news is how I always try to start the new year, but finding it in aviation has been a challenge in the relentless headwind of layoffs, furloughs, shutdowns, and bankruptcy filings. But I did find some, in my own backyard, at OSH, be…

A good question, posed by Matt Thomas in his comment about New Book Holds Hope for Aviation’s Future. “Do they risk finding other things to do that are perhaps more fun?” he asked on the next line, referring to pilots in general a…

As you might expect, I’ve received a fair number of comments to my recent post, Aviation Reality in a Post-Peak World. All of them came to me as email, using the link that is my byline at the end of my posts. Either directly or indirectly, the…

Aviation has weathered a number of economic storms in its history, most notably the Great Depression and the collapse of the GA boom that followed World War II. How the industry met and survived past challenges unfortunately will not predict aviati…

The only thing that sucks worse than the economy right now is the state of aviation. Mix layoffs with shrinking pilot numbers and the growing list of new regulations and requirements that benefit only bureaucrats, and you have a case of cynicism ab…

Cessna recently lifted the lid on its next generation flight training program. After military and airline training programs have proven the efficacy of scenario-based training for decades, Cessna is finally bringing it to general aviation. Working…