The Buzz Posts

Yes, it does happen … a time when I simply don’t know what to say. Or perhaps it is my age showing and I realize that there are times it is better to say nothing than to manufacture prose that comes off feeling contrived. Today, Septembe…

Unveiling the projects gestating in the Sonex R&D department, the Hornet’s Nest, during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the SubSonex jet and E-Flight Power System (covered last week in Jet & ESA Fly From Sonex Hornet’s Nest) got all the …

It’s Labor Day again and some fresh thinking is long past due. Everyone knows the American labor movement has fallen off the edge of a cliff the past few decades and even a blue president isn’t going to be able to fix it all. The big qu…

For some time, I have stood firmly on the side of the people who believe a law is needed to keep airline passengers from ending up trapped on the ramp inside an airplane for hours at a time. But I think I’m starting to be swayed. Part of my am…

At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, Sonex Aircraft pulled back the curtain on its research and development department, called the Hornet’s Nest, and unveiled three projects it’s been working on for the past handful of years. One of them the E-Fl…

In situations of information overload it’s easy to overlook or forget important things as the mind struggles to focus and make sense of it all. In the air, pilots rely on checklists and standardized procedures, and on the ground, as a reporte…

In situations of information overload it’s easy to overlook or forget important things as the mind struggles to focus and make sense of it all. In the air, pilots rely on checklists and standardized procedures, and on the ground, as a reporte…

In life, everyone makes mistakes.Most of the time, that’s really a good thing though because it offers us a unique path to become better at what we do. Being human though, admitting we screwed something up is not always easy, it’s downr…

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…

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 Di…

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 we…

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 e…

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…

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 1…

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…

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 …

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 t…

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 2…

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 Airp…

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…

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 h…

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 think…