Page 4 - Volume 17 Number 1

2 • TWIN & TURBINEJANUARY 2013editor’sbriefingOnce in every year, we get a chance to reset and take stock. This annual beginning of a fresh set of calendar pages ought to be the occasion for a brief stand-down, while we look at where we’ve been and think about how we can makeimprovements in our modus operandi.All too often, we trudge (or gallop) right through January 1st, without using the date as a benchmark for beginning anew. In this constant-contact, round-the-clock, info-laden world, we don’t get a break. That’s all the more reason for marking the occasion; we need a pause to contemplate The Meaning Of It All.So, if, like me, you worked as usual on December 31 and had leftover stuff to get done on the 1st, use the month as your benchmark. Maybe you’ve been intending to switch over to an electronic logbook, setting aside that always-behind bound volume of currency and chronology. Do it in January, when the retroactivity effort is minimal. Have you intended to take a look at your operational expenses, and have you meant to write up a new spreadsheet to manage them better? This month is the time.A year’s end, or beginning, is an appropriate time to begin the process of trading airplanes, or re-equipping your old one, if for no other reason than you know you want to do it, and without an incentive like the calendar turning, you may very well wind up staring at the same old panel when THIS year ends. Talk to the financial and insurance people and see what may be possible.If you, like many, have been ignoring that 2020 mandate for ADS-B equipage, this month might be the time to get serious about learning more and getting on the avionics shop’s schedule.Ready for a full Electronic Flight Bag, not just a tablet add-on to your charts and books? What better time than this?Now, I don’t want to make it sound like I’m in favor of tearing everything up and starting over at each New Year’s. Lethargy is ingrained in my DNA; my father was 40 when I was born and I acquired a son at 43. I set a lot more goals than I’ll ever be able to meet, so the whole point of this diatribe is to consider making changes and reaching higher. One thing’s for sure; if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.Looking Back At 2012This issue holds reports on recent gatherings. My mentor and at-large editor Dianne White reports on the 2nd annual Girls In Flight Training academy, focused exclusively on training women pilots, a once-a-year encouragement camp for students that need to know they’re not the only ones around. Last fall, I went to the NBAA convention this issue appropriately contains our quarterly NBAA Focus section.And in an update to the December announcement of Twin & Turbine’s move to part-digital delivery, the reponse to last issue’s editorial favored keeping the printed issue as-is. Because of that reponse, we are re-evaluating our course of action and, for now, are maintaining full print distribution as in the past. In this digitial age, we were surprised to hear such a strong chord favoring print.As we press on into the uncharted waters of 2013, let’s remember to take stock of what general aviation has done for us and what we can do to promote it and improve our participation this year.LeRoy Cook, EditorIs it time?