This Week in GA: Made in Moments

Well, the week started out one way, and certainly ended on a completely different note in our aviation world. While we look ahead to new tech, and take heart in the resiliency of our industry, we’ve also suffered a blow.

A Quintet of Digital Towers

While the focus this week was on another thrust of new technology into our airspace, with the implementation of an AI tool for ATC, the FAA announced its plan to install digital control towers in five more locations, in addition to the ones now operational at Bartow Executive Airport (KBOW) in Florida and Kenai Municipal Airport (PAEN) in Alaska.

Towers to come are planned for: Winter Haven Regional Airport (KGIF) in Florida; Venice Municipal Airport (KVNC) in Florida; Montgomery County Airpark (KGAI) in Gaithersburg, Maryland; Johnston Regional Airport (KJNX) in North Carolina; and Durango-La Plata County Airport (KDRO) in Colorado.

And though the digital tower concept looks practical in many of these locations, Gaithersburg presents an interesting case in point. Issues have been raised among local pilots prior to the tower’s implementation, centered around the busy flight schools and mix of users there. Contract controllers typically used in a digital tower may not have local knowledge, and airspace constraints with its position under the Washington, D.C., Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) combine to foment concerns that implementing a tower would cause more backups, long waits, and generally cause the situation there to get worse.

I’d love to hear from pilots based at Bartow and Kenai, as well as in other locations where the digital towers have been tested in the past, such as the testbed remote digital tower at Leesburg Executive Airport (KJYO) in Virginia—also tucked into the SFRA but with its own special operations area rules making ingress and egress of the D.C. airspace much easier.

Business Aviation Market Weathers Uncertainty

Global Jet Capital released its Q3 Market Report for business aviation, and even though the global GDP growth has softened to 2.4% from 3.0% growth a year ago, the market appears to have stayed the course with several other key indicators remaining strong.

First off, unemployment across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries has stabilized, and investment in AI-driven businesses has remained strong—this week’s resignation of Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and that stock’s selloff notwithstanding.

Of more direct impact on immediate transactions, the total backlog estimated for the major OEMs reached $62.9 billion in Q3 2026, up 23% year over year, with an industry-wide book-to-bill ratio above 1:1. While transaction volume declined, that was attributed to delays in reporting.

Overall, the business aviation tails available for purchase stayed tight, especially among newer aircraft, “although overall availability rose slightly from Q2,” according to the report. “A decline in new listings coupled with continued strong demand kept availability below historical averages.” At the same time, average bluebook values for aircraft of similar vintages increased 6.6% year-over-year, with some variance observed across various makes and models.

A Moment in Merignac

With the good report on the bizav side came some really tough news this week, when we lost Ed Bolen, recently retired president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

I thought I was braced for it when I saw the text from a friend yesterday letting me know of his passing, since he had been undergoing treatment for an aggressive cancer. But opening up the computer to write up our piece to send out to AvBrief’s readers was another thing entirely.

The small moments, the in-between times, more so than the grand events or broad gestures—that’s where leadership intersects with humanity, and few other leaders in our sphere exemplified this more than Ed Bolen.

Though I had seen him a time or two since then, the last time I sat down and talked with Ed happened serendipitously at the big reveal of the Dassault Falcon 10X on March 10. We’d both crossed the pond for the reception and unveiling—and I had chatted briefly with him as we boarded the Air France charter from Paris-CDG down to Dassault’s production headquarters in Bordeaux-Merignac.

He didn’t know I was fighting off a bout of food poisoning from the weekend before—and living in the unique hell for me as an airplane nut and food and wine aficionado, struggling mightily to enjoy either—and needing to find a quiet place to rest amongst the Michelin-starred cuisine and Bordeaux vintages being poured all around the stately and impressive 10X, bathed in spectral cobalt blue and violet lights.

But he came up to the out-of-the-way spot I’d found, asked if he could join me, and we spent the next 15 minutes or so catching up on a wide range of topics. It wasn’t an interview, just real time spent, off the record, a conversation to treasure. Every colleague and friend of Ed’s who has talked about his ability to focus on the person he was with—that is true, and that is not just a skill that a person develops but has to start from deep within. We are all really going to miss him.

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