AVweb Insider

In Mondays blog, I dissected the impact of the under-dressed sim instructor CNN used for its round-the-clock MH370 coverage, but what of the simulator itself? Like many, I assumed the simulator, which looked impressive on camera, was the sort of machine used to train and type rate pilots looking to find a 777 seat. Not […]

Back when I was actively flight instructing and overseeing a small FBO flightschool in Connecticut, I used to think that how a CFI dressed mattered a lot. I still think that, but perhaps deleting a lot. This came to mind with this weeks news report that one Mitchell Casado, the plaid-wearing sim instructor CNN used […]

Winding up my Aero coverage this week, I spent the day and a morning at Pipistrel, in Slovenia. If you dont have a map handy, Pipistrels factory is located atAjdovscina, just east of Trieste on the Italian border. Its in a beautiful broad valley with a Mediterranean-type climate and a population that seems to be […]

Of all the shows I attend, Aero is the only one that I wish would run a day longer. That there was so much to see at this show that I was aware of but simply couldnt carve the time to explore makes me wonder what I completely missed. Next stop AirVenture, I guess. But […]

Complaining about the high cost of flying is more or less universal, but here in Europe, where the Aero show is in full swing, they seem to be used to it. Just as in the U.S., general aviation at a serious level-and by that, I mean maybe owning a Cirrus or a Mooney-requires significant wealth. […]

As Sun n Fun drew to a close over the weekend, Id say that most of the people I spoke to deemed it about average. As Ive said before, its pointless to draw any conclusions about the aviation economy based on how vendors saw the booth traffic or what the daily gate was. Weve long […]

Ive attended enough shows like Sun n Fun and AirVenture to have to have inoculated myself against reading too much into trends and events that occur over the course of a week. And were but one day into Sun n Fun, with another five to go. Nonetheless, as far as new developments are concerned, I […]

Compared to aviation market trends, glaciers move at the speed of light, so I wasnt too surprised earlier this month that the Aircraft Electronics Association show in Nashville didnt reveal the next big thing. Still, there are whispers in the wind, I suppose. Maybe whats more interesting was what we didnt see, making me wonder […]

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but at the very least, it can create some vivid nightmares and I had one last night. Like everyone else, Ive been following the sputtering investigation of Malaysian Flight MH 370, especially the fire-in-flight theories. So I spent the day reading fire-in-flight accident reports and woke up in a […]

If theres an aviation version ofrealpolitik, we saw it on Friday when EAA announced its caving in to FAA demands that the association pay for air traffic services at AirVenture. This decision will be bitterly disappointing for many members, while others will just accept it as the cost of doing business and an inevitability. Its […]