By the time Lieutenant Colonel Michael Brill touched down after a combat mission over Iraq earlier today, he had broken his own world record for the most hours spent flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Brill, a 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, has logged more than 6,000 hours in the F-16.

Veteran Pilot Vern Raburn has a plan to save us from the nightmare that is modern air travel-the lines, the endless delays, the crowded cabins. His company, Eclipse Aviation in Albuquerque, is manufacturing the most inexpensive business jet ever: a six-seat bird called the Eclipse 500. Hailed as the nation´s first real air taxi, one that could shuttle customers between America´s 5,400 small (read: uncrowded) airports, the jet costs just $1.5 million.