The refreshing part of reading the New Yorker is knowing that so many jet and fractional owners are reading it too.
Of that group, it is important to note that private aviation readers can be divided into two groups: Those that made their own money vs. those that were born into it or just had good timing off the bus from Amherst into Goldman Sachs.
The ones that built their own usually have one thing in common - they knew how to get something far below its actual value. This would be the opposite of buying a business jet - which, until now, has been an exercise in paying far more for something than its actual value.
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The core of Taosim is about balance. I’m not certain of that, but it certainly sounds important and authoritative.
Richard Aboulafia is also important, and depending on the day of the week, he’s even an authority too. When he sent out his December 08 newsletter he touched on one of the most important Yin and Yang elements of aviation evolution and history.
The ROMANTICS vs. The ANALYSTS
While he castigated Vern for the Eclipse debacle and the herd of drunken followers, he was quick to point out how important this seemingly dysfunctional animal is. Were it not for the string of failures that romantics generate (for the occasional victory, like the Learjet, the 747, etc.) there would be little risk taking and innovation in aviation. In other words, the crushing blow to private aviation, air taxi, micro jets, etc. is all part of the larger evolutionary picture.
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We all hate hangovers. There is nothing pleasant about waking up from bad dreamless sleep to the intense regret that you begin to associate with sobriety.
But, in general and private aviation, metaphorically, we like TO DRINK. And we do it A LOT.
And that’s ok, so long as the booze keeps flowing, but the spigot is being shut off and lots of people aren’t as pretty as they once were. That little air taxi co.? Yeah, … not so cute in daylight. The manufacturer? Let’s not discuss the unspeakable acts they performed to get customers.
Dayjet’s recent collapse and Eclipse’s soon to follow path highlights just how far hubris and delusion can take you, your investor’s money and others into that big crater when you go on a bender.
Our cute little industry suffers from truly catastrophic failures. Richard pontificates on these tragedies years before they happen, which leads us to write posts like “The Joy of Being Right but Ignored.”
» Continue Reading
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The biggest farce floating around the industry, be it airline, air charter or air taxi, is the moaning and wailing regarding Jet-A. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it has gone up…. ok, it has gone up A LOT.
I hate to say it, but the Jet-A price increase isn’t the reason people are going out of business, or a reason to lay people off. It is an opportunity for the truly transparent to shine.
Fuel (or any cost you have) is not a reason for customers who need you, value you, etc. to ditch you. If you opt for the car instead of the plane, guess what? You’ll still get clobbered on price. Fuel is a very integral part of our lives. It is even raising the cost of my beloved avocados. But I’ll still buy them and look to cut somewhere else, like the avocados draped across the sushi I spend money on like an idiot.
(Hard times tend to be harder on the idiots.)
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The problem with hype is that it can really get away from you. Salespeople often require lots of fantastic premises and a careful architecture of quasi logic and emotional zingers to keep the potential customers slack jawed and credulous. Dayjet (of all air taxi schemes) was actually the one that had the best hope of “working.” Nonetheless, Dayjet’s most recent big news has reminded us of one critical thing: True “Air Taxi” is a tough sell - not so much to future passengers, but the darn investors you need to fuel up the venture in the first place.
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What is wrong with this picture?
I’ve held off on making this post, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. The aviation community (and many other similar communities of businesses) may be the last figure this out, but traditional media that we’ve thought to be great actually suck. They suck a lot. And, they know it. That is why there will be no New York Times in print in 5 years.
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While we run the risk of litigation, accusations of battery and other pesky modern day problems, the reality is that we deal with problems the old fashioned way at www.rsvpair.com.
The tennis racket I am holding is what I will use to “discipline” Marc Anthony with for not removing N281VP from the certificate in question in a timely fashion.
When a carrier faxes op specs and signs up on the site we respond quickly. The interesting part about our job is that we manage more plane data than anyone else in the industry, and to get the best data you need to have good users. But you also need to have good employees. And, Marc-Anthony has been bad.
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The TP 11919 (or PSTAR) is the first step in validating my flying licenses in Canada based on the US ones I have managed to accumulate over the years. It is not often that I trudge off to the Westmount Library for a quiet afternoon of studying, after all, I am 35 on the outside, but well over 60 on the inside.
When I decided to go “back to school” to activate the Canadian equivalent of my US license(s) a lot of odd things popped into my fragile brain thanks to the Canadian CAR’s. (Like FAR’s .. only they are CAR’s… make sense?)
Canada’s written tests for aircraft licenses are different in content mainly due to the fact that our constitution was written by beavers who needed to make sure all other animals had equal representation.
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The worst part about the 911 debacle (though this did benefit air charter / air taxi somewhat) is the fear. The Fear, as Oscar Acosta refers to it in various films and books, is a bit like “The Birds” in the famous Hitchcock film of the same name: Before you know it, they are all around you and you are swatting at stuff whether it is there or not. Since fear is the most primal emotion that governs our behavior, it is a mainline to manipulation. If you have someone afraid enough, you can make them do just about anything. While us marketing gurus like fear to some extent, I’d have to admit, it is no way to run a society… not if you want to belong to it much longer anyway.
When I read about the passengers turning the plane back 90 min. into the flight, I surmised that “the fear factor” has really hit an all time high in the UK, and is surely well on its way here.
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Ok, this is just a quick reminder to all those who suffer from the same disease. (Hint: Most of you.) My partner’s blog is cooler than mine. I had blog envy right away. He only added a “blogs that link here” and a Technorati link, but that was enough to stir my primal “your cave is better than my cave” neurosis.
He then had the nerve to say, “Oh… I just edited the template.” (Immediately sparking fears of a) finding the template, b) which editor to use, and c) how to save it with out bringing down my entire site - which I could do switftly with reckless abandon - as he knows I am prone to do.)
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