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This could appear on a check ride, if your examiner watches too much YouTube: What do LR23, 8-track, and Frank Sinatra share? The answer without thinking, because I haven’t, is: They made the 1970s marginally tolerable. Each is connected to Bill Lear, who invented the Lear 23 personal/corporate bottle rocket in 1964 and channeled Alexander […]

No surprise that this week’s court decision to overturn the CDC’s mandate on mask wearing in public transit ignited the predictable video of cheering passengers on airliners. I was a little surprised that the cheering wasn’t more enthusiastic, but then like everything else in modern America, sentiments are hopelessly divided on this issue. I last […]

If you want to put your airplane/avionics/service/gizmo or gadget on the map, sooner or later you’ll have to show it at AirVenture. So this year, Oshkosh will get an eVTOL terminal as a demonstration project and, presumably, eventual working infrastructure. I wouldn’t expect it to be much more than a building and a charging facility, […]

Supply Chain Struggles, New Show Leadership Going in to Sun ‘n Fun, it seemed likely that we would be doing a bit more legwork than we’ve necessarily had to in the past. That prediction definitely came to pass. According to several companies I spoke with, everything that’s available is selling, but continuing supply chain issues […]

It’s spring here at 41 degrees north latitude, when, as Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) mooned, “a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” And with apologies to Lord T, I’ll add, “an old pilot’s fancy turns to thoughts of cutting tailwheel furrows in soft verdant earth.” Flight and the lusty quest thereof comprise […]

Since most don’t live to tell about it, I never thought much about how your life is supposed to flash before your eyes in a brief moment of clarity before darkness descends and, as the Globe Life talking head says, your final expenses come due. But I sure as hell never thought it would happen […]

Now it’s time for my semi-periodic stand-up-on-your-hind-legs blog. I promise, this will be the last one and should sate you through the remainder of my career as an aviation opinion writer. What ignited it this time was the proximity of Sun ‘n Fun starting Tuesday and this video, a link to which someone must have […]

One of the many hazards of this job (we do it all for you, gentle readers) is reading accident investigation reports. The chief danger is the inevitable realization is that there are so many truly dumb ways to crash an airplane that it can give you pause every time you call “Prop clear” or step […]

Companies plying the aviation trade—airframers, avionics manufacturers, engine builders, pilot emporiums, headset sellers, fuel companies—are often approached to sponsor some flight or promotional event or another. “It’s for the good of the industry,” goes the reasoning.   By necessity, they turn down a lot of these, sometimes for reasons related to safety or just the […]

Curiously, as a cohort, skydivers—young ones—are environmentally woke. And since I am an internationally recognized expert on aviation of all stripes, I’m occasionally asked when I think we’ll all be jumping out of electric airplanes. My response is never. Maybe a little later, but basically never. Following this week’s surprise announcement that Textron is buying […]