The Scissortail Brief | July 20–26, 2026

EAA AirVenture wrapped this weekend with astounding attendance. The FAA unveiled a digital IFR clearance tool at the show. Textron, Cirrus, and Garmin all made news at Oshkosh. Fuel prices jumped as Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers opened a second front in the region's shipping crisis, and there's no end in sight. A dangerous heat wave is building across the central and southern U.S. And STXBAA hosted its second annual aviation law and tax seminar in Conroe. Let’s dive in…

Oshkosh Sets Attendance Record Despite Wildfire Smoke

EAA AirVenture wrapped Sunday with preliminary numbers showing approximately 730,000 attendees, a new all-time record, up from last year's record of 704,000. Visitors from 90 countries were represented.

The record came despite a rough start. Canadian wildfire smoke settled over Wisconsin in the days leading into the show, dropping visibility and creating IFR conditions at Wittman Regional. Pilots delayed departures, diverted to nearby airports, or rethought arrival plans. Michael Leighton, who has attended Oshkosh for roughly 30 years with his flight school FlyMKLeighton, told a reporter he had never seen a crowd quite like this year's, despite the smoke.

EAA CEO Jack Pelton, asked about the record numbers, said: "We're not chasing numbers. We're not chasing how many people can we get in here. We really want to deliver on what our mission is all about. Anybody that's interested in aviation or wants to become an aviation enthusiast, they can come here and we'll provide the canvas with all the right things on that canvas to do just that."

Among this year's crowd was Octavio Davila, 62, who said he had dreamed of attending AirVenture since he was 28. Attendee Nick Beaudri pointed to Saturday's night air show as the standout moment of the week, describing lasers, drones, and airplanes flying with fireworks trailing off them during the grand finale.

FAA Debuts Mobile Clearance for IFR Departures

FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau unveiled Mobile Clearance during a presentation at AirVenture on Thursday, July 23. The tool lets pilots request IFR departure clearances digitally through approved flight applications, currently ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot, rather than over the radio with clearance delivery or ground control.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford: "Mobile Clearance is a smart, simple improvement that builds on technology pilots already use every day. By moving routine clearances to a digital format, we can improve communication accuracy for pilots, reduce misunderstandings, and help controllers stay focused on aircraft movement and runway safety."

The FAA says more than half of the roughly 44,000 daily IFR departure requests in the U.S. are still handled by voice. Under Mobile Clearance, a pilot files an IFR flight plan through a participating app, and within 30 minutes of the proposed departure time can open a clearance session, receive the clearance from ATC as text, review it, and accept it with a "WILCO" response. Garmin Pilot can then overlay the cleared route on the moving map, and pilots with compatible avionics can send the route directly to the panel.

The system has been in operational evaluation since May 2026, starting at Houston-area airports, Sugar Land Regional (KSGR), Scholes International at Galveston (KGLS), and David Wayne Hooks Memorial (KDWH), before expanding over the summer to Appleton International (KATW) in Wisconsin and New Century AirCenter (KIXD) in Kansas, near Garmin's Olathe headquarters. Pilots departing Appleton on IFR flight plans during AirVenture were invited to try the system directly. The FAA developed the concept with MITRE starting in 2016 and ran simulation testing with pilots and controllers at the NAS Innovation and Emerging Concepts Lab before the operational evaluation began.

Beginning in August, Mobile Clearance will add the ability to cancel IFR clearances through the same apps, letting pilots transition to VFR after landing at uncontrolled fields without tying up busy ATC phone lines, a change the FAA says addresses a real safety concern: pilots sometimes cancel IFR prematurely, while still airborne, specifically to avoid that phone call. More locations, including Kansas City, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; and Austin, Texas, are planned for this fall ahead of nationwide deployment beginning in 2027. Garmin says its own rollout will proceed in phases through 2028.

Textron Debuts the CJ3 Gen2 and a Crimson King Air

Textron Aviation gave the Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen2 and the Beechcraft King Air 360 Crimson Edition their public show debuts at AirVenture, the company announced July 14.

The CJ3 Gen2 earned FAA certification in October 2025 and had its first delivery in January 2026. It's an upgrade to the existing CJ3 line rather than a clean-sheet design, with a refreshed cabin, updated avionics, and Garmin autothrottle added to the flight deck. The King Air 360 Crimson Edition is a special paint and interior package marking the King Air line's 60th anniversary. Textron says more than 7,900 King Airs have been delivered since the line launched in 1964.

Textron Aviation Senior VP of Sales and Marketing Lannie O'Bannion: "EAA AirVenture is one of the most important opportunities each year for us to connect with customers and the broader aviation community. Being on the ground in Oshkosh allows us to showcase the breadth of our portfolio. Events like AirVenture also give us valuable face-to-face time to better understand how our customers operate and continue delivering aircraft that meet their evolving needs."

Textron's expanded exhibit at the show covered its full range, from piston singles through business jets, spanning the Cessna, Beechcraft, and Pipistrel lines, along with aftermarket connectivity offerings.

Cirrus Reports Record Deliveries, Autoland Milestone

Cirrus delivered 691 SR Series airplanes in 2025, along with 106 Vision Jets, the most jets the company has ever handed over in a single year. To keep pace with demand, Cirrus is adding 30,000 square feet and $13 million in investment to its Grand Forks, North Dakota manufacturing plant.

Cirrus also highlighted Safe Return, the Garmin autoland system it put into the SR G7+ last year, making it the first piston airplane in the world to carry the technology. Ivy McIver, Cirrus's head of product for the SR series and an MIT-trained engineer with close to two decades at the company, told GlobalAir.com that adapting the system to a legacy airframe with a non-digitally-controlled powerplant required Cirrus to essentially build a digital control layer that didn't exist on the aircraft before. "We are the very first piston aircraft to incorporate Safe Return," McIver said. "We're working with a power plant that's not digitally controlled, so we had to figure out how to almost digitally control it."

Cirrus reportedly sold 26 airplanes during the show and is sold out through Q1 2027, according to pilot forum reports from the grounds.

Garmin Launches AXIS Flight Displays

Garmin unveiled AXIS on July 8, ahead of AirVenture, and used its Oshkosh exhibit to put the new displays in front of a live audience. AXIS is a first-of-its-kind system that combines a primary flight display, multifunction display, IFR GPS, NAV/COMM radio, and audio panel into a single unit, targeted at certified Part 23 Class I/II piston singles and twins as well as experimental and Light Sport aircraft under the FAA's MOSAIC framework.

The family includes three display formats: an 11.6-inch landscape unit and 8-inch portrait and landscape units. Each can be configured as a primary or multifunction display, with an optional engine indication system. AXIS supports Garmin's existing safety technologies, including Smart Glide, which helps pilots navigate to an in-range airport after a loss of engine power, and can auto-engage on aircraft equipped with a GFC 500 or GFC 600 autopilot.

The 11.6-inch AXIS displays have received FAA and EASA Technical Standard Order authorization and became available this month. The 8-inch displays are expected in early 2027. Garmin says the FAA Approved Model List Supplemental Type Certificate covers hundreds of certified aircraft models, with other civil aviation authority approvals expected later. AXIS is designed as an upgrade path from Garmin's existing G3X Touch platform, using many of the same sensors, line-replaceable units, panel cutouts, and mounting holes to simplify installation.

Pricing starts at $8,000 for a base VFR display system aimed at experimental aircraft owners who've already upgraded their IFR GPS, radios, or audio panel. A single IFR display system for certified aircraft with nav/com and audio panel built in runs $28,000, and a dual-display certified IFR setup runs $51,800. Garmin says a fully optioned 11.6-inch AXIS unit costs about $3,500 less than buying a comparable G3X Touch display, GTN 650Xi navigator, and separate audio panel individually. There are approximately 200,000 certified GA piston aircraft flying in the U.S., a market Garmin is targeting directly with the new platform.

STXBAA Hosts Second Annual Aviation Law and Tax Seminar in Conroe

The South Texas Business Aviation Association hosted its second annual Aviation Law Seminar on Friday, July 24, at Galaxy FBO in Conroe, presented by Coats Aviation Law, PC, a longtime STXBAA member firm.

The full-day seminar covered aircraft tax strategies and state and federal compliance, FAA regulations across Part 91 and Part 135 operations, and aircraft transactions, leases, and ownership structures. Sessions also covered aviation insurance considerations and new technology in the transaction space, including digital tools affecting due diligence and closing processes on aircraft deals.

The event was free for STXBAA members and $70 for non-members, with breakfast and lunch provided. Galaxy FBO, named the #1 Small FBO Chain by AIN four years running (2023 through 2026), hosted the seminar at its Conroe North Houston Regional Airport (CXO) location.

Fuel Prices Rise as Second Chokepoint Comes Under Attack

The national average for Jet-A across 3,202 reporting FBOs is $7.62 per gallon as of July 25, per GlobalAir, up 17 cents from last week's $7.45. The Central region is lowest at $6.87. Alaska is highest at $9.11. SAF sits at a national average of $9.73. 100LL is averaging $7.49.

That number is already behind the market. Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen attacked two Saudi very large crude carriers near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on July 25, prompting Saudi Arabia to temporarily suspend oil shipments through the passage before resuming service. The Houthis had declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia days earlier, threatening to cut off the kingdom's Red Sea oil exports, the same exports that have functioned as the primary relief valve for global oil markets since the Strait of Hormuz shut down in February. Brent crude, which was trading around $90 at the start of last week, surged past $98 on Thursday and briefly topped $100 a barrel for the first time in two months.

Here's the mechanism. When Iran closed Hormuz, Saudi Arabia began routing millions of barrels a day through a pipeline to its Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea, then out through Bab el-Mandeb, exports from that route reportedly surged to 3.5 million barrels a day in June, up from 240,000 a year earlier. That workaround is now under direct attack. With both major Middle East chokepoints compromised at the same time, there is no obvious alternative route left for a meaningful share of the region's oil to reach global markets.

There is no end in sight. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that Tehran isn't ready to make a deal, and CENTCOM confirmed a ninth consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military targets over the weekend. Some analysts have floated $200-per-barrel Brent crude as a real possibility if the conflict extends through the rest of the summer, which would put U.S. gasoline prices near $7 per gallon and jet fuel considerably higher than where it sits today.

Plan accordingly. This isn't a short-term spike that eases once markets recalibrate. Fuel budgets for the rest of the year should assume an elevated baseline, not the levels this Brief was reporting back in June, and operators without a locked-in fuel program are the most exposed to whatever comes next.

Weather Brief: Dangerous Heat Builds Across the Central and Southern U.S.

The following is sourced from NWS Weather Prediction Center, Storm Prediction Center, and Climate Prediction Center discussions issued the afternoon of July 26.

A dangerous, expanding heat wave is settling over the central and southern U.S. into next week, driven by a strong, broad upper ridge that's expected to persist for a prolonged stretch. High temperatures of 95-105 combined with high humidity will produce heat indices in the 105-115 degree range. The Desert Southwest will see highs of 115-120, pushing HeatRisk levels into the Major-to-Extreme range, levels 3 and 4 of 4, indicating conditions dangerous to anyone without adequate cooling or hydration. CPC's extended outlook calls this a long-duration heat wave for much of the Western and Southern U.S. through next weekend and beyond, with antecedent dryness raising the risk of rapid-onset drought across parts of the Great Plains and Corn Belt.

The Storm Prediction Center has an Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms today over the Upper Midwest and western Great Lakes, spanning from the upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes southwestward into Nebraska, mainly late this afternoon and tonight. Extreme instability, upward of 4,000 J/kg, combined with 25-35 knots of deep-layer shear supports organized clusters and an eventual mesoscale convective system capable of large to very large hail, damaging winds possibly exceeding 75 mph, and a tornado or two. Isolated damaging gusts are also possible with scattered storms over the northern Rockies and the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, though with weaker instability those should be more sporadic.

On the rainfall side, WPC has a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall Monday spanning the Four Corners states through the Central Plains and into the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and Northeast, driven by the upper high's center shifting from Colorado into New Mexico and continued monsoonal activity across the Southwest. That risk shifts Tuesday into a Slight Risk focused on the northern Mid-Atlantic into southern New England, as a shortwave trough develops into a low pressure system over the eastern Great Lakes and stalls over interior New York and Pennsylvania.

The Southwest monsoon remains active across the Four Corners region, the Rockies, and the High Plains, with daily thunderstorm development continuing through the week. CPC expects a renewed, enhanced monsoon surge in early August as a moisture plume from an East Pacific tropical cyclone combines with the ongoing heat wave.

South Texas is in that same broader moisture feed and should expect continued afternoon convective activity through the week alongside the building heat.

That's The Brief

The Week in One Sentence: EAA AirVenture Oshkosh wrapped with a record roughly 730,000 attendees despite wildfire smoke grounding early arrivals, the FAA unveiled Mobile Clearance for digital IFR departure clearances with expansion to Kansas City, Nashville, and Austin planned this fall ahead of nationwide rollout in 2027, Textron debuted the Citation CJ3 Gen2 and King Air 360 Crimson Edition, Cirrus announced a record 691 SR deliveries and 106 Vision Jets in 2025 while highlighting Safe Return autoland as the first such system on a piston aircraft, Garmin launched its new AXIS integrated flight display platform starting at $8,000, FBO Jet-A rose to $7.62 nationally as Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers near Bab el-Mandeb opened a second front in the region's shipping crisis and pushed Brent crude briefly above $100 a barrel, a dangerous heat wave is building across the central and southern U.S., and STXBAA hosted its second annual aviation law and tax seminar at Galaxy FBO in Conroe covering aircraft transactions, Part 91/135 compliance, and tax strategy.