The innovation and investment in alternative power options continues at Diamond Aircraft. The company continues to lead the general aviation industry in research and development of modern flight and propulsion technologies. This video shows their flight of a unique electric hybrid aircraft. The comments by Christian Drees make it clear he is committed to continuing this type of research that will lead to truly unique and advanced means of flight in the future.

Looking for a way to use your plane for good?

Join in the relief efforts of Bahamas Habitat in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

The organization is coordinating pilots, volunteers, donors and others to mount a response to the remote islands of the Bahamas.

I assure you that if you support this group financially, your funds will be well used. You see I am the President and Chairman of the organization! Your donations are tax deductible.

Pilots with planes have the opportunity to fly missions delivering relief supplies. Signup on their website www.bahamashabitat.org now for updates and mission notifications.

I’m starting to wonder if it’s me these tornadoes are chasing. I reported on the the Sun N Fun tornado and then after a great, busy, sunny, productive couple of days at the event I headed to my home town of Raleigh, NC aka The City of Oaks. Then two weeks later we got our own dose of tornadoes.

John Fielding, a flying friend from Virginia called me on that Saturday and said, “Are you at home in Raleigh? If so, get in the closet!” Sure enough the dark red on the radar was coming our way. We watched as it grazed past our home to the East unfortunately causing some significant damage along its path. It made it’s way up the East side of Raleigh and on to Louisburg where my friend, Steve Merritt, manages the Triangle North Airport (KLHZ).

After the storm passed, the sky cleared to bright blue without a cloud in the sky. I took to the skies in a great Husky I just listed for sale and flew low and slow to take pictures of the path. Of course the Husky is the perfect plane for the mission! The airport faired well but a few hangar doors caused damage on one of my customer’s aircraft and a poor Tomahawk flew off its tie down and sailed into another plane. The weather is great now and we are looking forward to a great flying season putting all this behind us!  Check out my aerial pictures…
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By now everyone has heard about the tornado that whipped through Sun N Fun 2011 on March 31st damaging over 40 aircraft, flooding the grounds and injuring 7 people. Most news outlets focused on the damage but what happened next that is the truly remarkable story. I went the next day expecting the worst and for the rest of the show to either be scrubbed or painfully slow and unattended. Boy, was I surprised. The Sun N Fun crew had done a fantastic job getting the place back into shape over night and the next several days were beautiful weather, crowds came out and it was very busy and successful event! Check out our video update from the next day, April 1st, 2011.