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Starting a Flight Department
May 13, 2013
Starting a Flight Department
When it comes to outright aircraft ownership, you basically have two choices: hire a management company to handle operations and maintenance or set up your own corporate flight department. Done right, either option will afford you convenience and safety. What it really comes down to is cost versus control.
Why pilots love iPads
October 1, 2011
Charts, operating manuals and maintenance data that used to weigh up to 80 po
As the PC half of a mixed marriage, I usually don't pay attention to Apple products. So I was nonplussed to find myself harrumphing along with so many others after the debut of the iPad in April of last year. "Doesn't do anything any other tablet can't do," I thought.
Ditch the jet, buy a sub?
August 1, 2011
“As we live a life of ease, Every one of us has all we need, Sky of blue and
The latest hot asset among the world's billionaire elite, according to a recent story on Yahoo! News, isn't the newest or biggest private jet. It's a submarine. The news service reported that Microsoft magnate Paul Allen, film director James Cameron and Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich are among the 100 or so owners of private submarines plying the seven seas.
The ABCs of Private Flyers
June 1, 2011
There are probably as many reasons to fly privately as there are private flyers. But you can subdivide the species into types, to a degree. Of course, the characteristics may overlap, but here are three examples:
Playing the blame game
February 1, 2011
The tone of some Web posts sounded like the language grandparents hear from y
Last july and august, nascar internet discussion boards swirled and smoked like a winning car churning victory donuts after a race. Jack Roush had just wrecked his jet (N6JR)-his second serious crash flying "little" airplanes. The auto-racing legend and founder of Roush Fenway Racing walked away from this one-staggered, actually-bloodied, blinded in one eye and with several cracked bones.
Jet Envy
November 1, 2010
Sociologists talk about how societies throughout history have had varying tolerance for ­disparities of wealth. That is, the degree to which the ­economic gap can expand before the unwashed masses rise up and take down the well-scrubbed wealthy few. Think Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution.
Weighing the Intangibles
October 1, 2010
From the dictionary: "intangible:...that which cannot be easily defined, formulated or grasped." When it comes to assessing much of the value in flying privately, that term is dead on. True, there are software programs like Travel$ense from the National Business Aviation Association that can help make a strong financial case for business aviation.
The High Road
August 1, 2010
First-time charter customers often come back for more, as they find that the
Even though I'm a pilot, I still love loading up the car and hitting the highway for a far-off vacation destination. Some of my most relaxing moments have been behind the wheel, with Woody Guthrie's "ribbon of highway" stretched out ahead of the hood ornament.
Kids in the Tower
June 1, 2010
Irony is a funny thing. Sometimes "ha ha" funny, and other times just weird. Occasionally it's both.
Airplanes vs. Computers
April 1, 2010
Every chip, relay, servo and processor must prove beyond a glimmer of doubt t
When it comes to reliability, there's a fundamental difference between the aviation field and just about every other walk of life. Nowhere is the chasm more visible than when you compare aviation's safety culture with what goes on in the computer industry. I know.

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Quote/Unquote

“When you get into the larger aircraft it becomes like a hotel, with dozens of staff supporting the plane based in a galley area down below. You have very comprehensive cooking facilities, and on larger aircraft we have looked at theatres, with spiral staircases and a Steinway grand piano. The limitations for what you can put inside a plane are pretty much the limits of physics, and even money cannot always overcome that. Even so, people are still always trying to push [the limits]. ”

-Howard Guy of Design Q, a UK-based consultancy