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I can think of only one word to describe an airline passenger who goes through the TSAs new streamlined security and feels vaguely grateful for having his rights somewhat restored. The word is pathetic, yet that was me last week when, entirely by random, I got shunted into the TSAs new TSA Pre security procedure. […]

At last weeks Redbird training conference, I wouldnt say the attitude toward using LSAs in training was exactly hostile, but it wasnt warm and fuzzy, either. During his talk on the Redhawk diesel, Redbirds Roger Sharp said that LSA resale values are a relative unknown and, at least in Redbirds view, LSAs havent yet demonstrated […]

Have you ever noticed how a word you havent heard for awhile all at once starts buzzing into your ears like that mosquito that snuck through the screen door? At Redbirds third annual Migration training conference this week, the word was Millennial. We all know it as the term used to describe the generation born […]

Sure its a little smoggy in this bustling central Chinese city, and the high-rise apartment blocks shooting into the sky often blot out an infrequent sunshine fighting to burn through the mist. Construction is rampant, and locals quip the new Chinese national bird is the crane. You could say my feelings were also a little […]

I went off to the multiplex over the weekend to see Gravity, fully expecting to be underwhelmed by a film thats been exceptionally hyped. I walked out of the theatre dumbstruck, wondering how director Alfonso Cuarn pulled this thing off and impressed with how, a day later, I was still in its grip. If no […]

Ithink one of the defense mechanisms we in the aviation industry have developed is the ability to not take ourselves too seriously. By many normal standards, it can be a preposterous business where the leadership roles are populated with wide-eyed dreamers who almost invariably make their money in more mundane enterprises and promptly squander it […]

Not to be irretrievably cynical, but more than any other industry, general aviation has shown itself capable of reducing even well thought out business plans to smoking rubble. And never mind the half-baked ideas. Ive always attributed this to the fact that flying and airplanes as a concept are so intoxicating, that only the most […]

What with the government shutdown and politicians snarling at each other across a partisan divide that makes the Grand Canyon look like a sidewalk crack, theres much to cheer about lately. So I was happy the other day to get a press release touting something simple that we can probably all agree on. I cant […]

Although AOPAs Summit show in Fort Worth this week may mark the end of an era, it didnt necessarily feel like that in the exhibit hall on Friday. I canvassed a number of vendors on their impressions of the foot traffic and the replies ranged from just okay to surprisingly good. At the Aircraft Spruce […]

As AVweb has been reporting, the partial government shutdown has impacted aviation at a number a levels, from aircraft registration to aircraft safety inspection. But the effect on the provision on airman FAA knowledge tests is more critical than many realize. Along with the shutdown of the knowledge test process, the provision of FAA airman […]