Flight Schools

We’ll admit it up front, without equivocation—we think flight simulators have improved the quality and safety of flight training substantially. We’ve seen the benefits for everyone from just starting out student pilots through grizzled veterans doing recurrent training. That’s why we are interested in the attractively-priced sims developed by one-G simulation, a Seattle-based company. We […]

At Sebring’s Sport Aviation Expo, Elaine Kauh prepared this video report on AOPA’s Cessna 152 Reimagined project. She spoke with the association’s Jamie Beckett. view on YouTube

At the risk of being mistaken, at least momentarily, for some doe-eyed Pollyanna, today’s blog will depart from the usual gloom for a brief bout of unabashed aviation boosterism. No, it’s not the Xanax kicking in, just soaring inspiration from seeing how much enthusiasm and creative vitality some people bring to general aviation through the […]

Like a punch drunk fighter, I’ve grown accustomed to daily press stories about general aviation that either excoriate the industry-USA Today, for example-or cover the subject with such shallowness that it’s laughable. I think all of us have learned to roll with the blows and hope tomorrow brings better. On NBC News last night, it […]

Late last month, I spent a day over in Miami at a company called Africair, checking out some of the company’s sales programs. They happen to have the Cessna territory for Africa and the Caribbean and they’ve established a steady trickle of business in converting Skyhawks to diesel propulsion. “Trickle” means about six to eight […]

Isaac Wilson made history in his home state of New Mexico on Tuesday when he flew his first solo in a helicopter at age 16. The flight over Double Eagle II Airport in Albuquerque was the first of its kind there. It also was a unique milestone for Wilson’s instructor, Douglas Christian of Vertical Limit […]

At this week’s Redbird Migration conference, I wrote a short straightnews piece quoting the proposed direct operating costs for an electric trainer of about $5 an hour. That number came from George Bye, whose Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. appears poised to bring an electric-powered trainer to market within…well, it’s on the horizon. A couple of […]

While electric aircraft have gotten plenty of gee-whiz press coverage, they lack one thing: credible production airplanes. At Redbird’s Migration training conference this week, Aero Electric Aircraft Corp.’s George Bye pledged to change that by showing up at next year’s event with a prototype of the Sun Flyer, a two-place electric that may become the […]

As if everything in aviation isn’t hard enough to get done, it’s grimly amusing how we’re able to make it harder yet. Just ask anyone trying to get a simple cert project on the FAA’s agenda, much less getting it approved. Even the stuff that should be simple and quick, isn’t. That came to mind […]

Redbird Simulations opens its fourth annual Migration training conference in San Marcos, Texas, today, with two days of forums and industry discussions about training issues critical to the aviation industry. On the agenda will be a brief review of Redbird’s experience in operating its Redhawk diesel Skyhawk conversion and a progress report on the company’s […]