I want to seek help more than anything. I really do. I want to get better. I just know if I try, I will have to give up on aviation, and frankly, I'd rather not be here than to do that. So here I am.

Those were the words that John Hauser left for his mother, Anne Suh, and his father, Alan Hauser, before he drove a Piper Archer TX into the ground near Buxton, North Dakota, on Oct. 18, 2021, committing suicide. He was 19 at the time and a student at the University of North Dakota John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

Even the most seasoned travelers have had those slap-the-forehead moments because they’ve left something behind in a hotel room.

Here are three ways to avoid that mishap, including by using the “rectangle of safety” and the “not-mine” mantra.

“We like to keep a low profile for our jet use.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard variations on that line since I arrived at Business Jet Traveler in 2004. It has been a constant challenge to find business jet owners and passengers willing to be profiled in our pages and companies that will go on the record about their use of private aviation. “The less said the better” seems to be the prevailing philosophy.

Many businesses do more to hide their jet use than just telling their executives to zip their lips. Some companies, for example, employ charter and jet cards largely because they don’t want owned aircraft to show up as assets on the balance sheets that stockholders and board members will scrutinize.

The avid self-promoters among the companies loudly proclaiming their intention to transform air transportation with electric-powered VTOL aircraft have each done a good job of giving the impression that theirs is the fastest track to progress. But what does this mean for operators and business models unwilling to be constrained by the range and payloads of battery technology, or who are not wedded to vertical lift?

In tandem with the eVTOL crowd, there are multiple promising programs focused on what can be achieved with various hybrid-electric propulsion options on fixed-wing aircraft. Among the anticipated advantages claimed by those taking this track are that the FAA and other regulators could see less technology risk in this approach, clearing the way to type certification under existing rules, rather than new requirements on which the ink does not yet seem to be dry.

There was a time, not even that long ago, that Remy St-Martin thought he would never walk away from his history at Dassault Falcon Jet. He had served as senior director of customer experience before being promoted to COO of the aviation company’s service center network in the Americas. He spent almost nine years at Dassault Falcon, which represented the longest tenure of his career.

But Eric Roth, president of International Jet Interiors—headquartered at Long Island’s MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, New York—must have said something very persuasive, because St-Martin is now the completion center’s newly installed COO.

Although Southeast Asia’s nascent advanced air mobility industry is picking up steam, it’s mostly Western eVTOL aircraft developers that have so far announced plans to launch commercial air taxi services in the region. Now an Indonesian company is throwing its hat in the ring with plans for a four-passenger model that could be the country's first new civil aircraft to enter service in the 21st century.

Headquartered in the West Java capital of Bandung, Vela Prima Nusantara is developing a piloted eVTOL aircraft called the Vela Alpha, which it aims to have certified and in service in Asia and North America in 2028. The company plans to produce battery-electric and hybrid-electric versions of the vehicle, which it is offering for air taxi services and aerial sightseeing tours, as well as cargo, surveillance, and medevac applications.

Responding to relentlessly strong demand, Safran Helicopter Engines is seeking to ramp up deliveries of its turboshafts to just above 1,000 units next year. In a briefing with reporters ahead of Heli-Expo 2024, the French company’s CEO, Cédric Goubet, acknowledged this will be a tall order since output was just more than 600 engines last year and it is targeting 900 for 2024.

At the same time, Safran has begun work on a new turboshaft that could eventually replace its Arriel for single-engine helicopters. Goubet said this project is at a very early stage, with engineers still defining what level of technology will be required.

IAI Prepares To Manufacture Upgraded Gulfstream G280 Business Jet

Bell Lands First Purchase Agreement for 525 Super-medium Helicopter

Preowned Business Jet Inventory Climbs, Prices Soften

The Resurgence of Sikorsky's S-92 Helibus Large Helicopter

NTSB Revises Probable Cause for CitationJet Business Jet Accident

A High-level Call to Action on Aviation Safety