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 saw a mix of challenges and successes, including the successful defense against ATC privatization, a record-setting year for aviation safety, and the Cirrus Vision Jet winning the Collier Trophy, contrasted with concerns over the ADS-B mandate deadline and FBO fees.
The aviation landscape is rapidly changing with disruptive technologies like widespread drone integration, which presents significant regulatory and safety hurdles, and the speculative development of autonomous "Uber-of-the-skies" urban air mobility.
The airline industry experienced a major hiring boom due to pilot retirements and increased air travel, creating a high demand for ATPs and leading to improved wages and benefits for pilots.

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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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