Joni M Fisher

1 month ago | generalaviationnews.com | Joni M Fisher

Retired Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot Kodey Bogart is on a mission to introduce aviation — specifically helicopters — to young children. That’s why her new book series, Helo Girls, is aimed at readers between the ages of 4 and 8. “We need to introduce aviation to people when they are very young,” Kodey said while at her booth at the 2025 SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo. “I go to many events like this and I hear all the time how ‘we need pilots and we need mechanics’ and we do.

1 month ago | generalaviationnews.com | Joni M Fisher

With one hour of flying time and a newly purchased Cessna 182Q, Carollyne Carmichel is on a mission. She plans to earn her private pilot certificate on the way to visit all 120 listings on her Airbnb-like network for pilots called Fly-Inn.com, documenting every stop along the way with a videographer. She hopes to complete that mission between the 2025 SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo, which just wrapped up in Lakeland, Florida, and this summer’s EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh.

1 month ago | generalaviationnews.com | Joni M Fisher

Every air show has a few aircraft that everyone seems to be talking about and the 2025 SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo was no exception. Like the embodiment of the aircraft flown in the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons, the Pivotal Helix, a single-seat, bubble-top Part 103 aircraft, captured the attention of the crowds at SUN ’n FUN. All during the week-long expo, crowds gathered at the company’s exhibit, as well as at Paradise City to see the working model flying at the beginning of the STOL demonstrations.

2 months ago | jonimfisher.com | Joni M Fisher

Since moving to Florida as a Yankee, I’ve learned most things about native pests the hard way. While unpacking that first week, I learned the two-part horror of what the gentry euphemistically calls a Palmetto bug. The first horror is that it looks like a mutant-size roach, so when one skittered along the floorboard, I mistook it for a mouse. Then it ran up the wall. After I crept up to it, with my arm drawn back, shoe in hand, the second horror manifested itself.

Feb 19, 2025 | jonimfisher.com | Joni M Fisher

As a journalist, I’ve interviewed thousands of people, from famous Hollywood directors to student pilots. When I met Kevin Lacey to report on his teen flying club, he became a friend. He made a living for a while, stealing aircraft. He’s one of the stars of “Airplane Repo.” He’s been threatened, chased, shot at, and arrested while repossessing aircraft around the world on behalf of banks. He passed away on Valentine’s Day. The news of it dimmed the world.