Solar sculpture lands at TIA

Janice Wood | Airports | April 29, 2012

The “Spirit of Southern Arizona,” a solar sculpture that commemorates Arizona’s aviation past and pays tribute to its future, has been unveiled at Tucson International Airport (TIA).

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New regulations may affect Copalis airport

Ben Sclair | Airports, General Aviation News | March 7, 2012

COPALIS, Wash. – Pilots and passengers traveling to Copalis Beach State Airport should be aware of future regulations and procedures for flying over the wildlife refuge area located northwest of the airport. Continue Reading »

Calhoun Air Center celebrates 2011, looks ahead to 2012

Janice Wood | Airports, FBO, General Aviation News | January 26, 2012

The folks at Calhoun Air Center at Calhoun County Airport (PKV) in Texas, have put together a video looking back at the great progress made at the airport and business in 2011.

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SEF adds new benefits for companies that relocate

Janice Wood | Airports | January 11, 2012

Florida’s Sebring Regional Airport (SEF) has modified its Foreign Trade Zone Act to provide a new benefit for businesses that locate within the service area of the Foreign Trade Zone, Continue Reading »

Indiana GA airport prepares for Super Bowl

Janice Wood | General Aviation News | January 5, 2012

The Shelbyville Municipal Airport (GEZ) will be busier than ever this Super Bowl season and will need additional support, according to a report in the Shelbyville News. “I’m going to need a lot of volunteers at the airport to make things run,” airport manager Darrell Shrader said.

Marinvent and Embry-Riddle expand R&D relationship

Janice Wood | Products | December 19, 2011

Marinvent Corp. and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University have expanded their long-standing relationship, and will now cooperate on the development, testing, and certification of new avionics concepts and technologies that will become part of the FAA’s NextGen system.

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Let silence reign

Jamie Beckett | Politics for Pilots | January 24, 2011

Jamie Beckett is a CFI and A&P mechanic who stepped into the political arena in an effort to promote and protect GA at his local airport.

My local newspaper, The News Chief, ran a piece in its Reader’s Rants and Raves section this week that read as follows; “Where are the clear-thinking Winter Haven leaders who are looking out for the everyday residents? We are saddled with an enormous airport – a white elephant that serves not even the pilots…”

Now the News Chief is owned by the New York Times Co., which means that a national audience could be exposed to this sentiment. Then again, the News Chief is available online, as most newspapers are these days. You can read the piece yourself on their opinion page if you’d like. So can anyone else. And what do I propose we, the aviation friendly public, do to correct this skewed perspective in the public mind? Nothing. I suggest we do nothing at all.

Let me explain. Continue Reading »

Coming clean in the TSA era

Jamie Beckett | General Aviation News, Politics for Pilots | November 23, 2010

Jamie Beckett is a CFI and A&P mechanic who stepped into the political arena in an effort to promote and protect GA at his local airport.

The conversation turned to the TSA at my morning coffee gathering today. Pretty much everyone at the table flies for business or pleasure, at least occasionally. So it is no wonder that scattered amongst the chatter about local, state, and federal government shenanigans, the recently implemented grope-fest going on at airports all across the United States should come up.

Opinions differed as to how each person felt about the latest security measures. Eventually the focus shifted to me, the pilot in the group. Which caused me to admit publicly what I seldom speak of. The truth is this: I don’t fly commercial. Not ever. Not for any reason. I just don’t. Continue Reading »

Building a winning team

Jamie Beckett | Politics for Pilots | September 29, 2010

Jamie Beckett is a CFI and A&P mechanic who stepped into the political arena in an effort to promote and protect GA at his local airport.

Powerful allies can pop up out of the blue, if you’re open to recognizing the opportunity. Since my basic rules of advocacy lean in the direction of the more the merrier, I am always on the lookout for either new converts, or old stalwarts, who are willing to join the campaign to make general aviation more readily accepted, and better understood.

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Persistence pays off

Jamie Beckett | Politics for Pilots | September 16, 2010

Like so many GA airports, mine faced a problem that was brought into sharp focus by the recent capture in Santa Barbara of those two wily desperados, John and Martha King. If nothing else the incident made it clear that emergency response workers (including police, fire and EMT crews) do not necessarily have a clear view of how aviation works on a day-to-day basis. Certainly the differences between VFR and IFR operations were not well understood on the law enforcement side of the equation.

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