“I’m seeing a virtuous cycle,” said National Business Aviation Association president Ed Bolen at this year’s NBAA convention in Orlando. He was speaking of The Alliance for Aviation Across America. Ad hoc Washington coalitions are often just “inside baseball” (and manufactured “causes” by corporate front-groups are downright deceptive), but the Alliance’s cumulative results since 2007 […]
Opinion
What should GA expect in 2013?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — What can general aviation expect in the coming year? That question has aviation-focused personnel in Washington wondering. Uncertainty is not limited to aviation. The grim financial situation of near $17 trillion debt and political debates on what to do about it bring uncertainty to a point where “but what if” is tempering […]
What fuel does Santa burn?
As Christmas approaches, we wondered what fuel Santa Claus will be using this year? With the average price of avgas having risen from $1.81 in December 2008 to nearly $6 in December 2012, the nice folks up on the North Pole must be thinking about alternatives, just as many pilots are these days. The image […]
The show goes on
Conversations drifted to tragedy in Connecticut, but the holiday season’s 25th annual Toy Parade went on as scheduled at the Spruce Creek Fly-In community in Florida. The parade boasted an ingeniously decorated Cub, Cherokee and Waco, the latter owned by 2012 Grand Marshalls Pat and Lenny Ohlsson, long-time real estate gurus (pictured below) Spruce Creek’s […]
Watch your downwind
By Mary Rosenblum, President-Elect, Oregon Pilots Association TROUTDALE, Ore. – You drive out to the hangar one afternoon, it’s a great day to be in the air and you can’t wait. You make the turn onto the airport and what do you see? Construction cranes? In the pattern? Hey, what gives? Who the heck is building […]
Golden opportunities and bitter pills
Participating in politics is, in essence, an exercise in dealing with people. The goal is to establish a method of governing or providing management services. But in the end it all comes down to developing and utilizing your ability to talk to, listen to, and work with a staggeringly diverse group of people. Like most […]
GAFuels: Pure-Gas soars through 6,000, ethanol production drops
The Christmas shopping season provides us with clear evidence that consumers prefer choices, and businesses respond accordingly. Recent news shows that fuel sales are no different. In the past few days, the number of retail sellers of ethanol-free gasoline listed at the popular website Pure-Gas.org has soared past the 6,000 mark. The number of airports […]
Time and talent
The church my family attends makes available to all comers a time and talent sign-up form. Our church, like most churches, has far more needs, and desires, than the paid staff can, or should, reasonably accomplish. As a result, we’ve created this sign-up form to tap the collective knowledge and labor base that is the […]
Looking ahead to the Sebring LSA Expo
The holidays approach like a lumbering airliner on final, sure and certain. With its arrival, aviation in America can take stock of the year and begin the anticipation for a new season to dawn once the days begin to lengthen. Winter in many northern states is a time of reduced recreational flying activity but (speaking […]