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Greetings! I hope you find this first issue of our new newsletter interesting and informative. I would very much like to have your feedback and suggestions. Jim Haynes
"Hangar Talk" is a new forum that we created to discuss trends in general aviation and new technologies that are or will be affecting our industry. Much has happened in the past five years. We are in the midst of change today. The next five years may prove as dynamic as or more so than the former. Stop by the "Hangar” to read what we have to say and give us your comments and views on issues we discuss.
New aircraft are becoming front page news and the VLJs, as the emerging class of Very Light Jets is known, has captured headlines in both the aviation and lay press. (Recently I watched a segment featuring the Eclipse on the evening news.) More ink has been used on this class of airplane than all the stories on the new jumbos from Airbus and Boeing. After years of hype not a single VLJ has yet been certified. Will 2006 and 2007 be the years that these new aircraft will finally be filling the skies and fulfilling the order books that have been touted by the VLJ OEMs? In the future we will have more to say about the VLJs and the companies that are forming to make these air limos available to anyone who can afford to fly first class.
Newly minted, highly trained, and battle tested pilots and mechanics returned from WW I and WW II to become entrepreneurs. They worked with what they knew best and loved - airplanes. Few if any were businessmen but many having PhDs from the school of hard knocks and being great salesmen built successful businesses. Today due to estate planning and the need for capital to compete with much larger companies we are seeing the grandchildren of these aviation pioneers talking to Wall Street. Can this be a win/win for everyone?
The HondaJet's new certification and marketing program (a joint venture with Piper Aircraft) was announced at the 2006 AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I first learned of Honda's interest in building a new light jet about 5 years ago from my good friend and test pilot Al Blackburn. Through Al I introduced Honda to my friends at Atlantic Aero in Greensboro, North Carolina. The rest is history.
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