VREF | The Truth About the Aviation Market

The Market Split In Half: The Numbers Don't Lie | EP 55

The September 1 VREF value revision is live—and the numbers tell a very different story than the broad “strong market” or “weak market” headlines. Business jet transacti

The Great Mooney Mystery: Six Questions The Record Doesn't Answer | EP 54

Jason Zilberbrand found something unusual on an ordinary corporate website: Luscombe Mooney Aircraft Company. Two historic general aviation brands. One masthead. Mooney

The "Ferrari Problem" Is Coming For Aviation | EP 53

How does an entire market start pricing assets at numbers buyers have never actually paid? That’s the question behind Episode 53 of The Truth About the Market. And alth

The $2 Million Loss Your Insurance May Never Mention | EP 52

An $8 million Citation CJ4 is sitting on a ramp. The owner isn’t flying it. He isn’t even in the country. A line guy hooks up a tug, gets distracted, and tows it into a h

The "Red Hot" Jet That No One Is Selling | EP 51

In this episode, we cover:• Why the Challenger 3500 has become the industry’s favorite proof that the super-midsize market is running hot • What Jason found after review

Aviation's Alphabet Mafia | EP 50

In this episode, we cover:• What public IRS Form 990 filings reveal about executive compensation • The reported compensation of the National Business Aviation Associatio

The Jet That’s Worth More Dead Than Alive | EP 49

In this mailbag episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason answers a question from Paul Bordeaux, Chief Pilot at Hargrove Engineers and Constructors: How should a buye

Oshkosh: Where Dreams, Deals, and Bad Numbers Collide | EP 48

In this episode, we cover:• Why Oshkosh is the largest aircraft transaction event nobody calls a transaction event • How more than 700,000 people and 10,000 aircraft tur

Why Some Airplanes Sell In Days While Others Just Sit | EP 47

In this episode, we cover:• Why “the aircraft market” is never just one market • Why the better question is not whether the market is up or down, but which market you ar

The $110,000 Upgrade That Could Tank Your Aircraft’s Value | EP 46

In this episode:• Why the DeltaHawk engine is one of the most significant piston-engine developments in decades • Why a clean-sheet aircraft engine matters in an industr

The Confidence Recession Is Here: Why Aircraft Deals Are Freezing Before Prices Break | EP 45

In this episode, we cover:• Why Bitcoin’s selloff is a useful comparison for what is happening in aviation • Why “meltdown” always depends on the time frame you are usin

Blood In The Hanger: Why Smart Buyers Win The Market Turns | EP 43

Everybody hates a down market. Sellers hate it. Brokers hate it. The guy who bought at the top really hates it. But here is what nobody wants to say out loud: A down

The “Hot Market” Lie That Costs Aircraft Owners Millions | EP 42

Not every aviation mistake happens in the cockpit. Some happen in the purchase agreement. Some happen in the asking price. Some happen at tax time. Some happen when sma

The $4 Million Deal That Died in Court: One Aircraft Transaction, Years of Litigation | EP 41

In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason walks through a real legal case in which he served as an expert witness. Certain names and details have been omitte

The Free Valuation Trap: Why “Instant AI Aircraft Values” May Cost You More Than You Think | EP 40

In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason responds to a new claim making the rounds in aviation: that legacy aircraft valuation methods are “broken math,” and

The Contract Trap That Kills Aircraft Deals: Why Bad Assumptions Cost Buyers Millions | EP 39

In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason breaks down: • Why most failed aircraft deals are caused by mismatched assumptions, not bad aircraft • How one sent

The Post-COVID Boom Is DEAD: Why Q2 Is Forcing Aviation Back To Reality | EP 38

In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason breaks down the Q2 2026 market numbers and explains why the aircraft market has fully unwound from the extraordinary

The Charts Are Lying: Why The Aviation Market Is Moving Were Data Scrapers Can't See | EP 37

Everyone is looking at charts right now. Asking prices. Inventory counts. Scraped listing data. AI-generated market summaries. And most of them are missing the same thi

The Aircraft Market Lost Its Nerve: Why Falling Prices Still Won't Make Buyers Move | EP 36

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF The headlines say the pre-owned aircraft market is flourishing. Deals are closing faster.

Why Bad Deals Start Before the Pre-Buy, and Why Your Network Matters More Than You Think | EP 35

General aviation buyers love to compare airplanes. Vision Jet versus Epic. Jet versus turboprop. Speed versus payload. Range versus cost. But that’s only part of the de