Top 10 General Aviation Stories Of The Year

Here are the blockbuster aviation stories of a remarkable 2018 for GA.

Plane & Pilot

Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 05:08 AM ET

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Plane flies by control tower.

Key Takeaways:

General aviation in 2018 experienced significant challenges, including the ongoing ADS-B mandate deadline, battles against high FBO fees, the closure of Santa Monica Airport, and a successful fight against ATC privatization.
The year saw major technological advancements recognized, with the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet winning the Collier Trophy and the introduction of more affordable digital retrofit avionics for light GA aircraft.
Despite these hurdles, aviation achieved a milestone with its safest year ever in general aviation history and presented a booming job market for airline pilots due to high demand.
Emerging and disruptive technologies, particularly drones, raised complex issues of safety, privacy, and regulation, alongside the developing, albeit speculative, concept of autonomous "Ubers of the Skies."

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7. A Long Goodbye For Santa Monica

Aerial view of Santa Monica airport — Santa Monica closed down its small GA airport.

After a harrowing back and forth with the city of Santa Monica, the FAA and the general aviation community, the city of Santa Monica, which clearly hates GA and cares not a whit for its rich aviation heritage, “won.” The FAA, which had previously been pushing Santa Monica to keep its small oceanfront GA airport open, swapped sides and without warning gave in to the city’s evil plan to shut down KSMO. The negotiated plan is for the city to lop off a third of the runway (to keep most light jets away) and to bulldoze the strip altogether by 2028, allowing pilots to enjoy SMO for another nine years before it becomes the latest downtown GA airport to go away.

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