FBOs

It was to have been a quiet Friday evening at home. The weather was that chilly, misty, rain-threating mix that seems to define November, there was a crackling hot fire in the wood stove and the idea of going anywhere wasn’t the least bit inviting. The bed with its thick comforter was starting to call […]

This week, AVweb‘s news roundup found stories about an FBO taking reservations for the Super Bowl, a new aviation search engine, a conservation organization looking for volunteers and a push by the U.K.’s Airfield Working Group to protect the country’s airfields. Hawthorne Global Aviation Services announced that it has started taking parking reservations for pilots […]

As he does from time to time, Dave, the proprietor of the flight school here at the virtual airport, sent out a mass email to his aircraft rental customers—students and certificated pilots—asking them to come to an evening gathering to socialize and discuss an issue of interest to all of us. The evening’s theme was […]

ADS-B Apocalypse As an owner, it’s hard to justify spending $2-6K on something we DON’t NEED to fly. It’s no benefit since we already have an IFR system that functions without it and a VFR system with the lowest accident rate in history. This is a made up, government mandate where some office bureaucrat made […]

Six aviation associations released a document detailing a series of communications best practices for FBOs on Wednesday. “Know Before You Go” (PDF) calls on FBOs to provide clear, complete and easily accessible online descriptions of available services, along with all associated prices and fees. The organizations, which include the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), […]

The Government Accountability Office has bitten on AOPA’s two-year-long campaign to end what it says is gouging by FBOs at some airports. At the request of House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster and aviation subcommittee chairman Frank LoBiondo the GAO is specifically looking at whether the FAA is doing its job ensuring airports that receive federal […]

The other evening I headed into the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport as the sun was approaching the horizon. I wanted to sit in one of the, um, experienced, OK, beat up, recliners, look out the windows at the runway and experience the quiet magic as dusk settled in. Once in the room, I […]

Space Race: Virgin Vs. Blue Origin The “race” between Blue Origin and Virgin seems to come down to sales hype. Branson, the ultimate showman, has the charisma to make his rocket powered shuttlecock look inviting while Bezos’ more mundane capsule has some actual historical experience to draw upon. Only recently has Blue Origin allowed real-time […]

The virtual airport and its pilot’s lounge came into being when I started writing this column almost exactly 20 years ago. (There’s a partial index of the columns hereand here.) The airport, the lounge and the characters who brought their wisdom to the discussions reported in the columns were, and are, an amalgam of airports […]

Our resident curmudgeon is in his 90s now and doesn’t make it out to the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport as often as he used to. About five years ago, Old Hack abruptly sold the immaculate Piper Super Cruiser he had bought almost new and announced that was done flying as pilot in command. […]