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“I hope they shut down the airport and turn it into a toxic waste dump. That’ll really piss off the liberals.”— Overheard at my local airport diner This will come as a surprise if you’ve read AOPA’s lobbying materials, but maybe we’re not such awesome neighbors. I teach at San Carlos and Palo Alto, in […]

What a difference a year makes. A year ago, almost to the day, we were excoriating Icon for its lopsided buyer contract that made draconian sound like an upgrade. In the midst of a beat down by the press, Icon circled the wagons at Sun ‘n Fun, conducted tight-lipped interviews, if any at all, and […]

When I do research on maintenance and aircraft ownership issues, I often hear a comment like this, from a shop owner or manager or an I&A: “The owner just didn’t want to replace [name of component]; he just didn’t see the value.” I understand the sentiment. Maintaining an airplane is so expensive that owners have […]

United Airlines’ Ninja-level lesson in how not to do PR went understandably viral on Monday after gate agents thought it a good idea to have the cops drag an apparently recalcitrant passenger off one of their airplanes. It reminded me that I’ve seen this movie. I was in this movie. It occurred in Chicago around […]

When I was pulling out of Sun ‘n Fun late in the week, I had one thought only: I wish I had gone to Aero instead. Because the two shows ran concurrently for the first time in my recent memory, I decided if there was a must-do show for us to cover with our limited […]

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: Despite its reputation for stifling regulation, there’s more airframe and powerplant innovation coming out of Europe than from the U.S. If you’re interested in new airplanes, look east, not in your backyard. It’s not unreasonable to say Chinese money is funding at least some of this. Consider […]

I’m sure there must be a thin permeable membrane between creativity and sheer lunacy and a product I saw at Sun ‘n Fun creeps right on the fence without quite crossing it. It’s called the BOM and it’s being offered by Levil Aviation, heretofore known for its line of clever ADS-B products. You can see […]

Mooney’s decision to rethink the M10 reminds me that I’ve seen this movie before. As we mentioned in today’s coverage, the company apparently realizes that the trainer market isn’t—and will likely never be—robust enough to support a major investment in a new aircraft. And that’s likely to be true no matter what the price point […]

Americans love competition, or say that they do. A fundamental assumption of American business is that capital will find the most efficient way to reproduce itself and companies that fail deserve to fail. Plain and simple, it’s economic Darwinism. It’s a universal principle until, that is, it’s your own ox getting gored or you’re subjected […]

Almost as a condition of entry, people who voluntarily engage in general aviation at any level have to be slightly delusional. It takes a hearty constitution to look at gracefully declining sales numbers and eroding flight activity and think, sure, I’ll just keep on going here. I mean, what the hell? In that context, yesterday’s […]