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Last February, when I was planning a visit to Daher’s factory in Tarbes, France, I was surfing the web looking for airline fares when I saw one from Miami to Madrid for $640; outbound on Iberia, return on American. I see this sort of thing often enough to know that it’s not an everyday thing, […]

“Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.” – Oscar Wilde I can’t think of a better lead in for the latest round of polling that indicates—surprise—the general public opposes the idea of privatizing air traffic control. The latest run at plumbing public sentiment on this topic was […]

When I was shooting today’s video in the Airborne Museum at St. Mere Eglise earlier this month, I was impressed that the museum has on display an example of every little thing the paratroopers carried. And I mean everything, including a box of Smith Brothers Cough Drops. Seeing that unleashed a flood of nostalgia. Those […]

At the end of Sun ‘n Fun, as I was shooting this video with P-51 owner Louis Horschel, I was marveling at the fact that with only about 100 of these aircraft still flying, it’s still supportable. As Horschel explained, parts are findable, if not readily available, and the economics allow the manufacture of some […]

N-numbered routes in France are sort of like our better state roads or U.S.-numbered highways. Some are dual-lane divided, some just two lanes. Like most airports, the one at Tarbes has just such a highway that runs by the southeast perimeter of the airfield. When you tip out of the inevitable roundabout, there it is […]

You can read about a thing, see a film about a thing or hear someone describe a thing but even if you’ve done all that, the thing itself will never be what you expect when you actually lay your own eyes on it. That’s the feeling I had today after spending most of the day […]

I suppose as analogies go, using fruit and baked goods is as good as any to describe the state of the general aviation market. A decade ago, it was sugar plums. Now it’s pies or, to be more accurate, pie in the singular. About 2005 or so, but definitely by 2007, every GA manufacturer of […]

One man’s dogma is another man’s entertainment. Which is another way of saying as a sometime editorial arsonist, I will happily stand by and watch pilots vigorously argue about truths none of us hold to be self-evident. And what better way to be entertained than discussing pattern entries. I’m disappointed to admit I didn’t start […]

As sure as winter turns to spring, the ATC privatization idea has resurfaced and just as surely as summer is coming, so too are the alphabets protesting it. We’ve already hashed out ad nauseam why turning over air traffic to a private entity is a bad idea, but this season’s regurgitation has a new twist: […]

I suppose it was just a matter of time before Dunning-Kruger popped up in an aviation reference and let me proudly say one of our aviation publications made the pioneering leap. The recent reference was a throwaway in an article about accidents used to explain why some pilots take on more weather than they can […]