Just as London had the spotlight two summers ago, now it’s Brazil’s turn. Another trip to Salvador de Bahia recently landed on my plate, and this time it came with a ticket to a World Cup match! If only I knew more about soccer. Actually, if only I knew anything about soccer… Read more →
For better or worse, the relentless march of technology means we’re more connected than ever, in more places than ever. For the most part that’s good. We benefit from improving communication, situational awareness, and reduced pilot workload in the cockpit. But there’s a dark side to digital connectivity, and in an era of internet-connected refrigerators, toilets, and a/c systems, I predict it’s only a matter of time before we start to see it in our airborne lives. Read more →
User fees for general aviation have been proposed — and rejected — over and over again for nearly two decades. Today something new is in the works: the Federal government has decided to start with the highways instead. It makes me a bit nervous, and I can’t help but wonder whether GA will be able to make the case against those fees after the “freeway” moniker has been fully transformed into a sad anachronism. Read more →
General aviation desperately needs stability. Instead, we are faced with a governmental Lernaean Hydra, an organism essentially at war with itself. One part of this mythic creature offers us reduced regulation and cost, while the other threatens to smash whole segments of the GA ecosystem into oblivion. This is NOT government of, by, or for the people. Read more →
AOPA and EAA suggested a slight expansion of the sport pilot medical exemption. Congress got a hold of that idea and took it to the next level, and is considering eliminating formal medical certification for most private pilots. Is this too good to be true? How did we get here? And what does it mean for GA’s future? Read more →
Saint Augustine once declared that the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. While I’m fairly familiar with the tome, one glaring omission in my scholarship had been the the chapter on Scandinavia. Thankfully, the wonderful world of on-demand jet charter provided a northerly flight opportunity last month, so I packed my bag and headed for LAX. The assignment? Airline to Stockholm, hang out for a couple of days, and then fly a Gulfstream to New York. Read more →
When it comes to cataloging the intriguing travelers one has encountered over the years, few people can rival the improbably tall tales spun by pilots. Obviously it’s important to maintain confidentiality in this business, but by removing all identifying information and changing some details, a few entertaining stories can be related. Here are a few of my favorite passenger interactions. Read more →
I manage to lose sunglasses in the most creative ways possible. I can give you several examples… but there’s one story which really takes the proverbial cake. Read more →
Over the past two decades I’ve traveled all over the country. All over the world, in fact, and my list of favored locations is long indeed. It’s hard to beat sitting on the beach next to the Sunset Bar & Grill in St. Maarten. I could spend a month in London taking in shows at the Globe, ENO or the West End. And who could say a cross word about any of the Hawaiian islands?
But if I had to choose just one place to call my all-time favorite, it wouldn’t even be a contest: it starts and ends with Santa Catalina, one of eight isles in the Channel Islands archipelago which sit just off the Southern California coast. Read more →
When I was a kid in the 1980s, Beech represented some of the most exciting and cutting-edge stuff in the world of flying. For example, the much anticipated — and highly unsuccessful — Starship. We came across one recently in the mountains of Colorado, and to my eyes it still looks as sweet as the day I first saw a picture of one on the pages of Flying magazine. Read more →