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Having flown the brilliantly-engineered Dassault 7X last year in Paris, the thought of a model somewhere between the real thing and the one that sits on my desk was intriguing.

Take a look and a listen as a Dassault engineer explains the intricacies of a radio controlled model 7X to AIN TV’s Ed Heiland at EBACE in Geneva Switzerland.

This 7X is available as a kit for about $25,000. A real Dassault 7X will set you back about $42 million.

Reversing the decline of the pilot population “is the most important thing we are addressing,” says Cessna Pilot Center Manager Julie Boatman.

“We have several things in development that I’m not quite ready to talk about yet,” but as part of those efforts Cessna is revitalizing its CPC network and “looking at every element of what we do and how that addresses the demographic we’d like to bring into flying.”

That demographic includes people that general aviation has not traditionally approached before, like professional women. One key to reaching these new audiences, Boatman says, will be to reach beyond the traditional motivations of aviation as a heroic adventure or an effective business tool (both still valid) and sell “flying as a path to personal growth and challenge.”

If anyone has a chance of success it’s Cessna. It has the knowledge, experience, and wherewithal to create and deliver a targeted nationwide effort to recruit new pilots. Equally important, with its nationwide network of nearly 300 CPCs, it can deliver on the promises made.

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As Tina Turner said when she and Ike produced their own version of the Credence Clearwater Revival classic, Proud Mary, “We never do nothing nice and easy. We always do it nice … and rough.”

So here’s your chance to take a look at two videos that will teach you a bit more about the nation’s air traffic controllers and their contentious interactions with their bosses at FAA.

The first version comes from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and offers the air traveler a pretty straight forward view of what might well happen as the number of experienced air traffic controllers continues its downward spiral.

The other version came to us through the ATC News site and offers a Big Brother version of life inside of the agency from a controller’s perspective. Having spent 10 years of my life with the agency, I’d say the NATCA folks are being pretty nice at this point in their dance with the FAA.

This post comes with a warning. Those of you employed by the agency are not going to like the second version one bit I fear.

Evan Spark’s ran an interesting post the other day about Southwest Airlines and Herb Kelleher, the company’s chairman. Take a look if only to watch this great video of Herb starring in a Southwest commercial 30 years ago. It’s clear why he spent so much of his career as their point man. He’s always been good in front of crowd. But so are most of the people that work at Southwest from what I’ve experienced and that element is a major competitive advantage for the airline.

Evan’s post also offers an important contrast that looks deeper into where people fit at Southwest versus its competitors. Sparks began by posting a link to Southwest’s mission statement.

Allow me to quote Southwest president Colleen Barrett… “our goal of serving you [the customer] with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit is not just what comes naturally to our Employees. It’s also the pledge we’re committed to honoring each and every day.”

Barrett apparently well recalls the message Herb has promoted for 30 years as well as she says, “Our Customer Service package is totally dependent upon [our] Employees. Without Employees—and without the right Employees—we would have at best poor Customer Service, and poor service means no more Customers.” At Southwest, the company priorities are simple, Employees, Customers, then Shareholders, completely upside down from the legacy airlines.

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Pilots are a population in decline. We are getting old and resting our wings, and it saddens me no end to watch the industry trawl yesterday’s fishing grounds for tomorrow’s pilots, most of whom have moved on to places unknown.

It’s almost as though general aviation is motoring toward the future with its eyes firmly focused on the rear view mirror. As good as it was, the 20th century is over, and it’s never coming back. Information rules in the 21st century, and what the GA does not know about its potential customers has always been its undoing.

In times past and present pilots don’t really exist until they have a student pilot certificate. This gets them into the FAA system, the only industry-wide source of population numbers. But here’s the rub: students don’t need a certificate until they solo.  Until they acquire that piece of paper they’ve been invisible customers for six days, six months, or six years.

In the 21st century, making the count with a medical certificate is pretty much worthless information. Yes, it counts “active” pilots, but it misses those who don’t need medicals, sport pilots and those who fly balloons and gliders. Right now all GA knows is that the FAA issued these pilots a certificate, and that’s it.

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Although this interview DayJet’s Bruce Holmes gave the Atlantic.com’s James Fallows has the smell of fluff at a time when customers and industry pundits are clamoring for considerably more substance, it is the best out there about the current inner workings of this major Eclipse operator right now.

Holmes said he does not expect the pull back to affect the quality of the service the company provides although I doubt anyone is certain how that will be possible.

It’s worth reading.

Our Flight Tracker today showed no activity for DayJet.

When a senior executive, especially one in the current Bush White House is in trouble, there’s nothing like a little good PR to help balance things out. Trouble is, it can be pretty tough to convince a reporter - especially one for a national newspaper - to take the time to say good things about a politician when almost everyone knows it’s fluff. You know those fluff stories … when the poor beaten upon politician is shown to be a real human like the rest of us by holding puppies and kittens or playing with kids.

So when the Washington Post’s Christy Goodman wrote the glowing piece on FAA’s Bobby Sturgell - on Sunday no less - you know that someone at the Post must have owed someone at the DOT or the FAA a favor big time. But a good public affairs person at FAA or DOT gets paid precisely to make the case for these kinds of stories.

While I appreciate the fact that Bobby was a Navy pilot able to plunk an airplane down on a moving aircraft carrier at night in IFR weather - how many of us can do that? - he is still not the person to run the agency even in good times. While I’m sure he reads books to his son at night when does get home - I love a dad that does that actually - it has nothing to do with his qualifications to run an agency that is as screwed up as the FAA.

Right now, FAA is living through a nightmare of the worst credibility gap in its 50-year history, a mess in which our friends at the airlines and business aviation, not to mention the agency’s own employees like controllers and inspectors are being beaten up severely for much of what is the agency’s fault to begin with. And Sturgell has been at the helm during the worst of it.

Bobby. You’re a nice guy I can tell from Christy’s story … really.

But FAA has problems that are way beyond what you can do to fix them on your own. As a PR guy, let me tell you too that Bush appointee Mary Peters support for your nomination really isn’t helping your case either.

The beginning of a fix to the FAA won’t even start - I should have said maybe start - until the current White House tenant leaves next January.

In all honesty, none of the candidates - Republican or Democrat - has said much of anything about where aviation fits into their agenda either. That should make everyone in this industry more than a little nervous.

Are you serious about a flying career? Then you’ve probably already heard someone speak to the value of a Flight Instructor rating because it offers an opportunity to build flight time until you get hired by the airlines or with a corporation. Almost without question though, if a pilot mentions teaching people to fly for a living, the laughter is bound to be loud. That’s because many of the folks who work hard for their CFI only make the effort because they want to fly, not teach.

With the severely reduced experience standards required at the regional airlines, there will be even fewer pilots choosing a flight instructor rating, especially of course, those who never wanted to teach in the first place. 

So first a disclaimer.

If you have absolutely no interest in learning why a career as a professional flight instructor is worth pursuing, stop reading now. If you’re not even remotely curious about why a great flight instructor needs to also think like a business owner/operator, click that little red “x” in the upper right corner of your screen now because I can guarantee you’re going to be bored.

But, if you’re even the least bit snoopy about how one flight instructor I know - Max Trescott - has managed to make teaching people how to fly - and writing about teaching people to fly - a business he enjoys and is paid well for, read on. Who knows, you might just walk away with a fresh opinion about teaching.

And in answer to the question I know I’ll receive, why Max? Because being the 2008 National Flight Instructor of the Year counts for quite a bit in my book. Max is the fourth one I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and honestly, some of their enthusiasm is rubbing off on me. He’s also a NAFI-designated Master CFI.

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On the ground and in the air, ever increasing fuel costs are eviscerating the disposable income of wannabe pilots and the profit margins of flight schools who teach them to fly. Looking forward, many schools are wringing their hands and searching for viable solutions. May I suggest the light-sport aircraft.  

Today’s typical trainer is a decades old four-seater. Running full rich most of the time, with a lot of power changes, their 150 to 180-hp engines are burning 100LL 10 gph, give or take a bit. At $5 a gallon, give or take a bit,  that makes President U.S. Grant every student’s pocketbook passenger.

Most fixed-wing special light-sport aircraft fly on 100-hp Rotax or Continental O-200. In the same thirsty training environment, they sip 4 to 5 gph, taking that $50 bill twice as far. As a bonus, an appropriately equipped LSA can expand the pool of possible students because it can serve the needs of both sport and private pilot candidates.

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You have to love the fact that the GOP supports business, even if it is mostly the Fortune 100s.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune today reported that the Grand Old Party announced Northwest Airlines as their choice to be the official airline for this summer’s GOP convention in the Twin Cities.

There was a fact the Star Tribune missed though.

There is NO other airline with enough service in and out of the Twin Cities to act as the official airline this summer except Northwest. At last count, Northwest controls about 80 percent percent of the traffic at MSP.

Of course, maybe United might try out to become a sort of GOP runner-up airline … if they can find enough crews to staff their airplanes that is.