With apologies to both playwright Neil Simon and Brighton Beach, it was a sentimental journey Nov. 10 to Vero Beach, Florida, for Piper’s Factory Fly-In, the final event of the Cub’s 75th Anniversary year. Scattered among the 40 yellow taildraggers at the invitational fly-in were the all-metal Pipers of MY youth. I could only reminisce. […]
Notes from NBAA: Good show!
The National Business Aircraft Association show made it into the Orlando Convention Center unscathed Oct. 30-Nov. 1 despite an on-again/off-again Presidential TFR, turmoil from Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast and economic headwinds in the industry. Show attendance looked thin but official numbers said otherwise. Along with multi-million dollar jets, more everyday GA was on display. […]
What a way to see an airshow!
I’ve been to many airshows – enough to pass on most theses days. But this October in Daytona Beach, Florida, a remarkable beachfront airshow pulled me in. Here, you can literally drive all the way into the show, park right on the show line and watch from your car on the beach. There are waterfront […]
Bowling alone
The new flying club proposal from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is news, but the association has tried it before. Moreover, Americans generally (pilots in particular) are individualists – even more so recently, says a unique thesis titled “Bowling Alone.” But now GA’s survival is at issue, or at least the ability of “average […]
Embry-Riddle: Climbing out despite turbulent times
You might wonder how a big aviation university is doing during the recession. After all, airline flying is not the glamorous, big money career it used to be. What’s a college to do? At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, change is the order of the day. That change has been underway for some […]
GA’s next generation of entrepreneurs: PilotMall.com’s Neil Glazer
I always marvel at how anyone makes a go of it in aviation. I’m especially cheered by young people who stake their claim. I’ll be writing about a young aviation entrepreneur or leader from time to time. The first represents success on the Internet: Neil Glazer, the founder of PilotMall.com. Last month, I visited the […]
Katama still beckons for fall flying
Summer has ended but great fall flying beckons. One of America’s best summer places also shines in autumn, so pilots in the Northeast will still make their way to Katama Airfield on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. The air is now clear and cool, the tourist hordes are gone and the prices — thank […]
General aviation goes to the political conventions
For the first time, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Business Aviation Association teamed to hold events at the two national party conventions. The goal: Schmoozing politicos to hold high the flag of general aviation. I attended the first, at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Tuesday, Aug. 28, to see […]
The evolution of AOPA Live
Many associations and news organizations are producing video news and features – some even in the TV news format – now that the Internet has solved distribution issues. But since the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) pioneered an in-house news show in the 1980s, critical viewers found most early efforts painful. Will the online […]