We try not to overdo this, but we have a new benchmark to share with you.
*** One year ago, we loaded a new graphic onto our home page. The idea was to better identify where in the world we were finding visitors so we put up Flag Counter, which you can see at the bottom of the Featured Aircraft listing in the right column. It’s been fun to watch the numbers and flags adjust.
*** If you click on that image you can get much more info. One thing you’ll see is that we’ve had 191 countries come to visit, including some you may not know existed. Indeed, the entire world has an interest in affordable, recreational aircraft.
*** You’ll also note a count of Unique Visitors. At the end of the first year of having this counter on ByDanJohnson.com, we exceeded 150,000 Unique Visitors, according to Flag Counter. Our own stats counter — which doesn’t simply sample as most other counters do, instead counting every visit — shows an even larger number: 181,846 or more than 15,150 per month.Great Internet Year for Recreational Aviation
We try not to overdo this, but we have a new benchmark to share with you.
*** One year ago, we loaded a new graphic onto our home page. The idea was to better identify where in the world we were finding visitors so we put up Flag Counter, which you can see at the bottom of the Featured Aircraft listing in the right column. It’s been fun to watch the numbers and flags adjust.
*** If you click on that image you can get much more info. One thing you’ll see is that we’ve had 191 countries come to visit, including some you may not know existed. Indeed, the entire world has an interest in affordable, recreational aircraft.
*** You’ll also note a count of Unique Visitors. At the end of the first year of having this counter on ByDanJohnson.com, we exceeded 150,000 Unique Visitors, according to Flag Counter. Our own stats counter — which doesn’t simply sample as most other counters do, instead counting every visit — shows an even larger number: 181,846 or more than 15,150 per month. In 2012, our all-time record year, the average has exceeded 16,000 Unique Visitors per month. We feel mighty fortunate about our steady growth since everyone knows too well we have a sluggish economy most places on the planet.
*** In August of 2012, we exceeded 3 million hits for the first time, and our bandwidth showed nearly 60 GB of content delivered. That’s more than 12 DVDs worth or 75 CDs full… every month. Our sponsors — who help us make so much available for free — care how many times their banners and messages are being seen and we have consistently over-delivered on that promise as well. Oh, BTW, our August revenues also set a record and we sincerely thank our many sponsors for their unwavering support that benefits every reader.
*** All this is just numbers and we hesitate to wave our flag too vigorously as it sounds like bragging. OK, it is a bit, but the larger, more important message is that the idea of affordable aircraft and flying for fun appears — at least by the benchmark of one website’s performance — to be alive and well… all over the globe.
*** Of course, the big aviation websites like those from AOPA, EAA, AvWeb, ANN, and many others have even larger numbers of visitors but they often include aviators interested in working or business aircraft. Instead, we offer the sporting community of aviators a concentrated package: all fun flying and no business or transport aircraft content.
*** We enjoy what we do here at ByDanJohnson.com and we hope it shows. We’re lucky to have top-notch contributors that add depth. We CERTAINLY appreciate your regular, growing visits and we promise to work hard every single day to keep providing the news, videos, and other information you seek. Thanks so much for clicking by for a visit! C’mon back soon.
We try not to overdo this, but we have a new benchmark to share with you.
*** One year ago, we loaded a new graphic onto our home page. The idea was to better identify where in the world we were finding visitors so we put up Flag Counter, which you can see at the bottom of the Featured Aircraft listing in the right column. It’s been fun to watch the numbers and flags adjust.
*** If you click on that image you can get much more info. One thing you’ll see is that we’ve had 191 countries come to visit, including some you may not know existed. Indeed, the entire world has an interest in affordable, recreational aircraft.
*** You’ll also note a count of Unique Visitors. At the end of the first year of having this counter on ByDanJohnson.com, we exceeded 150,000 Unique Visitors, according to Flag Counter. Our own stats counter — which doesn’t simply sample as most other counters do, instead counting every visit — shows an even larger number: 181,846 or more than 15,150 per month.
The older iteration of the Vertical Power company developed a new panel gizmo called VP-400 “Runway Seeker.” This thing is magical. Imagine being in an autopilot-equipped homebuilt or LSA and the pilot blacks out on you. What if you’re not a pilot? If you have Runway Seeker, you have one button to push. Even if the engine quits, Runway Seeker will automatically fly to the closest, and best, runway placing the aircraft on short final. It could even bring your plane all the way to the ground. This action includes full energy management such as raising and lowering flaps automatically to achieve best glide. It shows you where you’re going en route not simply to the closest runway but the one most likely to produce a good outcome (a longer runway at an airport with emergency services and maintenance). Thanks to Vertical Power’s extensive collaboration with Austin Meyer of Laminar Research, developer of the X-Plane flight simulator, Runway Seeker can use X-Plane’s global terrain database to negotiate obstacles in your flight path as it flies you to the runway.
I watched a demo of this entire scenario twice and came away terribly impressed. I’m a huge fan of airframe parachutes. Runway Seeker isn’t a substitute for that equipment but certainly would be valuable in addition to the parachute. In my ideal world, I’d have a 
