Blog Archives
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Was Alexis De Tocqueville Right?
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday November 7, 2012I wonder — was our recent election really just one more choice of one more president for one more term, or did we just pass a tipping point? Some 175 years ago, when our democracy was still a rare form of government, a Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, traveled widely throughout our United States preparatory to writing a book best known as Democracy In America. In that book he wrote that a democracy “…cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. "From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over... -
Citing Thomas Sowell
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday October 17, 2012Thomas Sowell is without a doubt one of the great economists of our country. He explains things so simply. “I have never understood,” he wrote,” why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you’ve earned, but not greed to want to take away the money somebody else has earned.” Right now, the Obama administration wants to take away money by fining — you can call it a user tax if you wish, but I call it a fine — every flight of a corporate jet. Obama has used Air Force One freely. Obviously, he likes it. No doubt he could explain that it is necessary to help him run the country. So, why can’t he appreciate the fact that corporate jets help run corporations? Is it possible that he doesn’t believe the CEO of General... -
The Passing Of A Legend
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday October 3, 2012
Billy Hulse has died, and so ends an era. Billy’s father, Frank Hulse, built an aviation empire which grew even larger under Billy’s direction. Frank started a flight school under the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), a government program in which civilians provided basic pilot training. Students who didn’t wash out were sent on to the military for further training before serving in WW II. Frank Hulse then built Hangar One, a chain of FBOs once known to one and all as being top-drawer. I remember when I visited Hangar One at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport as a student pilot filled with awe. Coca-Cola kept their Gulfstream fleet in one of the hangars, and I remember thinking that I had been to the mountain top and seen the... -
The Beat Goes On
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday September 19, 2012My favorite grass strip, Moontown Airport outside of Huntsville, AL, held its annual Fly-In this past weekend. They sent me that announcement, and gosh, I wanted to go, but couldn’t. Now I’m glad that I couldn’t get there. Friend George Myers, who owned Moontown for many years, was one of those pilots with whom you’d let your kids ride. In fact, he reportedly had a 17-year-old riding with him on Sunday in his Yak when it crashed during the fly in, killing both occupants. It always comes as a shock when this happens to a well-qualified pilot, and George fit that description. Recently we discussed this type of thing on AVSIG—the online aviation forum—after top airshow pilot Bob Odegard was killed in a warbird crash. I also... -
Are We Ready?
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday September 5, 2012There is a popular song — “Better Get Ready.” Methinks that song should be sung loudly to everybody in aviation. Each week we receive reports from several sources about the future of aviation. These are written by people who are smarter than I, so I read the reports avidly. Still, like the late, great Andy Rooney, I wonder. Folks, no matter who gets elected in November, one fact remains: This country will still be facing what must be the worst financial mess in the history of this country. If we get out of it at all — and any other option is too sad to imagine — we will have to cut guvmint spending to the bone, and then some, for a long time to come. We’re not talking about little easy “band aid” cuts, but deep, bloody... -
My Intro To OSHA
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday August 22, 2012
This story is 40 years old, now, but it still seems like yesterday to me… It was 1972; I was selling aviation/airport insurance for National Aviation Underwriters. The setting of the event was the airport hotel at the Huntsville, AL airport. It was one of the early airport hotels in small cities, and the hotel is still there today. The event was an agricultural aviation convention. OSHA was new at the time, and little understood by most business people. Everybody knew it was about safety in the workplace, but that was about it. The subject came up at the meeting, and it was evident that the agricultural aviators — cropdusters — were sore afraid that OSHA might come by to inspect them. How should they act? Could OSHA fine them... -
Back When I Was “Special”
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday August 1, 2012Back in the 1980s I presented several sales training workshops for the transparency division of Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG). PPG made airline windshields and windows as well as military aircraft canopies. The sales force was fascinating — just a few people covered the world. I’d see one of them on an airline and ask where he was going. “Oh,” he’d say, “Oslo, then on to Rome and Berlin. Where are you going, Ralph?” I’d hang my head a bit, shuffle my feet and say, “Aw, just Kansas City.” The sales manager gave me a tour of the factory. To my surprise, he even told me about the cannon they had that shot dead chickens at windshields in tests. “We don’t tell many people about that, lest the animal rights fanatics... -
Who Wants A Flying Car, Anyway?
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday July 25, 2012
Ever since I can remember — long before I even learned to fly — someone or other has been touting the flying car and/or the drivable airplane as the saving grace of general aviation. I say it ain’t gonna happen in my lifetime. Who wants one of the dang things, anyway? Sounds to me like a great way to combine a poor car with a poor airplane. What would make anyone believe otherwise? It’s hard enough to make a good car or a good airplane by itself, much less combine them. But the bigger question is, what’s the benefit? As I understand it, all of the ideas have involved an airplane that would convert to a car at the end of a flight and back to an airplane at the end of a drive. How long will it take to convert in each... -
Airports Are Better — But …
- Wednesday July 11, 2012As regular readers (surely there must be at least a few) know, I have been right pleased with airports recently. They have adapted to post-9/11 security beautifully. Remember at first how chaotic everything was after that date? It was awful, particularly for non-frequent flyers. Now it goes rather smoothly, and I appreciate that. On the other hand, it is time for my annual diatribe about my pet peeve at airports in recent history. This is one of the few ways in which airports — in my not-so-humble opinion — have gone downhill. Back in the late 1970s, I wrote a letter to a hospital saying they could improve things by using signage as airports do. “From any part of an airport,” I wrote, “I can see signs directing me to the... -
Aviation Marketing 101 At Home Depot
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday June 27, 2012I have discovered the dangdest marketing plan. Though I found it at Home Depot, it is highly adaptable for aviation. Recently my brilliant, handsome four-year-old grandchild came South from Boston for a visit. On Saturday his parents suggested we take him to Home Depot (HD) where, it seems, they put on a “project” program for kids on the first Saturday of every month. Free! (That word “free” fascinates me. I go along with the ancient Lebanese riddle — “What is sweeter than honey? The answer is “Free vinegar.”) I had doubts, but we went. I was astounded. One section of an aisle was blocked off with “tables” made of particle board propped on buckets. The kids used additional buckets as chairs (great for them...
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