Cuba has a nice selection of small-town/rural airports, including many with good, paved runways, judging from the satellite views. When I zoom in, though, they are mostly sadly deserted, with sometimes a single piston twin parked in the middle of an empty apron. Who are they maintaining these airports for? The military doesn’t need so many so close together, and I doubt that many Cubans could afford to fly private aircraft even if they were allowed to.

Now that Fidel is pretty-much confined to writing OpEd pieces in the party propaganda rag and Raúl, who’s running the show, is making speeches about opening up the economy and talking seriously with the U.S., maybe it won’t be long until U.S. pilots are allowed to visit again. Cuba’s an easy flight from Florida, and it looks like it will still be able to offer some decent flying, with lots of nice, rural airports to go along with its friendly people. Cuba’s already a huge tourist destination for Canadians, though I don’t know anyone who’s flown his/her own plane down (it would have to be via Mexico).

Maybe change isn’t too far away …