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Jumpseating — the practice of bumming a ride aboard a human mailing tube headed somewhere you need to go — is one of the time-honored institutions of the airline industry. Some use their privileges to commute, others to move around on company business. But, in the right hands, it’s really more of an art. Come […]

Captains are not born; they are made, mostly from the school of hard knocks and with a copious amount of seasoning. As part of this process, being in the right place at the right time is as important as avoiding the wrong places. Along the way, the people, planes and places encountered all help give […]

“With demand for air travel at record highs and many pilots facing mandatory retirement at age 60, U.S. airlines are desperately trying to fill their cockpits.” The Wall Street Journal. I don’t know that there is a general aviation pilot alive who hasn’t toyed with the thought of applying for an airline job, if only […]

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Recently a Beech/Raytheon Baron 58TC crashed in New Jersey, killing four. Although it will be a long time before investigators release their findings on the final causes of the tragedy, early reports said a friend of the Baron’s owner was flying the airplane. Regardless of the cause of the accident, this brings to mind a […]

When I first started my business in 1988, I vividly remember spending several sleepless nights because I had to purchase a laser printer with a price tag of $2,000! A year or so after that I agonized over whether to buy a fax machine. After the fax machine arrived the floodgates opened. The next purchase […]

The key to understanding aviation insurancecosts is the term “loss ratio (LR).” The LR is the ratio of money paid out inclaims, compared to the money taken in through insurance premiums. The loss ratio ingeneral aviation insurance has exceeded 1.1 to as much as 1.25 or more for the lastseveral years. This means that most […]

At the insurance agency where I work, we talk with hundreds offellow pilots every week about aviation and insurance. I am amazed at the number of pilotsthat do not know whether or not their life insurance covers them if they die in a generalaviation accident. Do you? For example, many employers provide group term life […]

The contrast was remarkable. Formonths I had been canvassing the airline personnel departments, making phone calls andpersonal visits — with no luck. Of the dozen airlines I had been following up on weekly,none would give me the time of day. Only one had even acknowledged receipt of myapplication. But as soon as I was invited […]

Let’s take a little time off from the hardcore technical stuff, and have a little fun. One of my favorite stories involves a pig, but first, allow me to set the stage, jump up and down on my soapbox, rave a little, then tell the story. From 1963 through 1968, I had the incredible honor […]