Archive for May, 2008

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Chicago Hates General Aviation? Say it isn’t so…

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Well Chicago is at it again, several years after Mayor Daley lost his fight to close Meigs Field (2001) and he came in the middle of the night and destroyed it (along with Senator Obamas wife) in 2003, then got sued by the FAA and the city had to pay up, Chicago is now showing no love again for GA. 

The Chicago Tribune is attacking General Aviation touting user fees. Thanks to our friends at AOPA and Phil Boyer we are getting our side heard.  We already lost a beautiful and very convenient airport for General Aviation what more do we need…

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Eclipse to offer new jet Eclipse 400

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Eclipse Aviation now a 10 year old company announced today that they will be offering the new, ‘V’ tail jet they previewed at Airventure 2007 as the Eclipse 400.  They plan to have the jet in production and make deliveries by 2011. (Read Press Release)

Eclipse has now delivered over 200 of it’s 500 model jet and has back orders for 2,600 more.  They also announced…choose your press release words wisely…”a price change”; translated price increase for that jet bringing the total cost of it up to over $2.15 million.  Ahhh I remember when it was on 837,500 only a few short years ago.  Thanks oil prices for killing the dollar and driving up our prices!  Well the plane is still a great value at it’s new price even when compared to many twin turbo props and considerably better when compared to its other VLJ competitors. 

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Berlin Airshow Open for Business

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Halfway through the week at one of the oldest airshows things are flying (May 27-June 1, 2008).  The Berlin airshow began in 1909 and moved from being the Frankfurt airshow to Berlin in 1992.  Considering it is mainly a governmental and military event and open to the public on Friday only it is expected to draw 200,000 people.

The focus this year with high fuel prices is Efficiency!

Read More 

Airshow Home Page

Public Info to visit the show

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Sydney Pollack dies Actor, Producer, Director, Pilot

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Sydney Pollack died at his home in Pacific Palisades yesterday surrounded by family.  We will miss his movies and his usually humorous guest appearances.  (LA Times Article outlining his work and Life People Magazine Article) 

He was also one of our well known pilots who liked to fly his Citation X to his various shooting locations and supported aviation as much as possible (Airport Journal Article).  He said “I don’t fly much for pleasure anymore, flying a Citation X is really all business”.  Thanks for your work and the humor you added to our lives! 

Harrison Ford is another active well known pilot, who actually blames Pollack for him getting his license.  Ford is now very active in aviation as chairman of EAA Young Eagles in the headlines this week, for a good reason  Indian Jones!

Other aviators effected by Pollack are Tom Cruise who flies a P-51.

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New Cure Coming for Hanger Rash…

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

Ever bumped a wing or a tail section while putting the plane up?  Ever leave your coffee cup sitting on a wing during preflight only to realize it when you heard the “thud” on the elevator during start?

Dumb mistakes that can ground you…well the Brits are trying to help us out a bit with our problems – ‘Airplane Heal Thy Self’ he said.  Yeah some engineers at Bristol University in England are working on making “healing composites”. Yeah you read that right composite frames that realize they are dinged, cracked or damaged and heal themselves up to 90%.  They say it could be ready to go in less than 4 years.  Read more ANN Aritcle or Full story on Bristol University website

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Personal Flight brought to you by FusionMan

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

Don’t think this will be coming to your garage anytime soon, but hey we dream can’t we?

 FusionMan! 

Photo Courtesy of FusionMan Website

Yves Rossy started his ambitious project in 2001 to become ‘Rocketman’ and experience personal jet flight and May 14, 2008 he did it.  Now if only I could life would be complete! Check out his website

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