AIN Blogs

AIN Blog: Yet Another Pilot and Mechanic Shortage
October 3, 2012 - 7:36pm
Matt Thurber
737 in Shanghai

We’re at it again, hyping the upcoming pilot and mechanic shortage. (How come we never talk about flight attendant shortages?) Maintenance shops are having a hard time finding mechanics, and the new 1,500-hour rule for airline pilots means that airlines that are now losing their 65-year-old pilots to retirement are sucking instructors out of flight schools.
Oh, woe is us! What are we going to do?
AIN Blog: Torqued: Pilots Bill of Rights Is Really a Bill of Goods
October 2, 2012 - 2:15pm
John Goglia

Judging by the positive press from AOPA and EAA, one would think the pilot’s bill of rights is going to do wonders for pilots fighting FAA enforcement actions, especially the unfair kinds of action that many of us have criticized.
AIN Blog: A Trip to Jet Depot
October 1, 2012 - 9:21am
Jeff Burger

For several years, you’ve been able to book charter flights on the Internet and now, as we’ve reported in Business Jet Traveler, there’s a retail store in London–The Jet Business–where you can actually walk in off the street and buy an airplane.

I think I can see where this trend is headed.
AIN Blog: FAA Needs To Cut Bird Strikes
September 28, 2012 - 9:53am
Paul Lowe
Canada geese

When US Airways Flight 1549 splashed down in the Hudson River in January 2009, it made Capt. Sully Sullenberger an instant folk hero and made a flock of Canada geese the miscreants.
AIN Blog: In Promoting Business Aviation, Every Little Bit Helps
September 15, 2012 - 8:30am
Kirby J. Harrison
The TSA isn't earning high marks among business travelers, which is good news for the private aviation industry.

In an industry still digging its way out of a disastrous recession, even bad news can be good news and the latest bad news from a poll taken by Frequent Business Traveler magazine (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) amounts to good news for business and private aviation.
AIN Blog: Market Forecasts: Junk Science or Just Junk?
September 14, 2012 - 2:20pm
Gregory Polek

While any direct comparison of the fundamentally incongruent market forecasts published by the Western world’s four civil airframe manufacturers might seem like an exercise in futility, a little extrapolation can reveal some basic differences in opinion, methodology and, maybe most significantly, equipment offerings.
AIN Blog: The Bizav Boys' Club
September 5, 2012 - 9:11am
Jeff Burger
The business aviation field has been called a "boys' club," and with good reason.

In his recent Business Jet Traveler interview with Elite Aviation owner Chris Holifield, journalist Matt Thurber notes that “you don’t see a lot of women-owned aviation businesses.” Bizav, he says, is “a boys’ club.”

It sure is, and so is the rest of the aviation world.
AIN Blog: Torqued: U.S. Safety Ratings of Foreign Countries Are Meaningless
September 1, 2012 - 12:35am
John Goglia

Are U.S. aviation safety ratings of foreign countries meaningless?
AIN Blog: Godspeed, Neil Armstrong
August 29, 2012 - 4:31pm
Nigel Moll
Neil Armstrong (NASA)

The passing of Neil Armstrong comes as a shock. Surely the first human to set foot on another celestial body would never succumb to something as predictable and inevitable as mortality? But succumb he did, last Saturday (August 25), from complications following cardiovascular procedures.
AIN Blog: Ten Reasons Ford Motor Should Buy Hawker Beechcraft
August 28, 2012 - 9:00am
Chad Trautvetter
Ford Tri Motor

Hawker Beechcraft filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May and is currently in exclusive negotiations with Superior Aviation Beijing, which has placed a stalking-horse bid to buy Hawker Beechcraft for $1.79 billion. However, the Wichita-based aircraft manufacturer will ultimately be sold in a public auction, meaning it is still very much up for grabs.

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