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Going Direct by Robert Goyer

About Robert Goyer

In Going Direct, Robert Goyer airs his thoughts on some of the most controversial aviation issues of the day.

Robert has been with Flying since 1994. During that time he was written and photographed hundreds of feature stories on a wide variety of topics.

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Detained by the Feds: What Should You Do?
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As I’ve written about very recently, there are alarming reports of incidents of pilots being detained — though not arrested — by federal agents, who then search the subjects' airplanes. According to a law enforcement source we interviewed who went through the training for such interdictions, the stops are being made in a shotgun approach (lots of pellets, very few hits) to finding drugs.
Unleaded Avgas: Do We Really Have To?
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The FAA the other day released a request for alternate fuels to test in what it hopes will be an accelerated adoption of an unleaded avgas into the GA fleet. It's aiming for five years. I'll bet my house that won't happen. 
 
In any case, upon the announcement, alphabet groups rose as if as one to applaud the move by the FAA to take the initiative to do something about the 100LL problem.
 
It is a problem, though it is by nature far more of a political problem than an environmental one.
This Isn't America

Photo by James Tourtellotte via CBP

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You’ve probably read reports about innocent pilots arriving at their destinations after long cross-country flights only to be greeted by squadrons of police agents — from local cops to Homeland Security and who knows what other agencies — to search and question them as though they were under arrest.
10 Communiques from Geneva
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10. EBACE (European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition), LABACE (Latin America), ABACE (Asian) and for our North American edition, it'll soon be just... BACE? Why not USBASE? NABACE? Regardless, the rebranding of NBAA, a known commodity for more than 50 editions (not all of which I’ve had the pleasure of attending) as BACE is coming this year. It took me about 5 years to start calling Jeffco by its new name — Rocky Mountain something — and about that same length of time to start calling Oshkosh “AirVenture,” something I still regularly slip up on.
My Ride in the Best Bizjet in the World
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There aren’t many of our readers who are likely to go out and buy a Gulfstream G650 at $60-million-plus per copy, but there are a few, and those few are most likely going to find themselves not in the left or right seat but in one of the seats in back, doing business, spending time with the family or just kicking up their heels and enjoying the ride.
Were Tower Closures a Grand Bluff?
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With the announcement on Friday that the sequester-driven closures of hundreds of contract control towers was off, we might be tempted to pat ourselves on the back for our hard work in fighting the misguided judgment of the administration.
The Myth of Pushing Limits
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The following is from the March 2013 print issue.
 
For as long as airplanes have been around, pilots have held a number of beliefs about them that are out of line with reality, which is an alarming fact given that pilots are the ones responsible for making sure a flight goes well and ends well.
Light Airplane Design Unleashed

Pipistrel Panthera

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Everybody knows that new light airplanes cost too much and don’t do enough. This might be changing. And in this case, change is definitely good.
 
Part of the problem is our history, but it’s time to let go of the past. The Part-23-view of what makes for a safe light airplane is hopelessly out of date. If the point is to make the economics of building affordable new light airplanes impossible, then today’s Part 23 regulations have come close to achieving their goal.
Cessna CJ Hiatus: End of the Niche Jet?
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The decision announced by Cessna and parent company Textron last week to put most of the company’s light jet lineup on what it calls temporary hiatus is a sure sign of tough economic times. A year ago Cessna had a lineup of no fewer than six light jets — the Mustang, CJ1+ (discontinued last year), CJ2+, CJ3, CJ4 and the emerging M2.
Echoes for Aviation in Boston Marathon Bombing
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The news of the bombings at the Boston Marathon yesterday hit me hard. Though I was safe at home in Austin working, I had a close connection to the events. In fact, I had a number of close connections.
 
When the news came in that there had been explosions near the finish line and that this was an act of terror, my thoughts turned immediately to my friends, more than half a dozen of whom were running the event. Were they okay? Had any of their loved ones been injured? Were there going to be more bombs? I was beside myself.
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