Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF “Low total time” sounds like a selling point. In aviation, it often is. It shows up in listings, broker calls, and buyer wish lists as if those three words settle the question of quality before the airplane is even inspected. But strip away the assumption, and what’s left is a far less comforting truth: airplanes are not preserved by sitting still. They are preserved [...]

Episode Summary Aircraft financing looks like a simple rate-shopping exercise… until you’re the one stuck in a bad structure, a surprise covenant, or a refinance that won’t clear because the original valuation doesn’t hold up. In this long-form, name-names episode, Jason breaks down how aircraft lending really works (spoiler: lenders underwrite exit liquidity, not your dream), the difference between banks, finance companies, capital/private credit, and credit unions—and where brokers add real value vs. hidden cost. Jason [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF Episode Overview In this episode, Jason breaks down a shift many people in aviation feel but haven’t fully named yet: the traditional progression from one aircraft to the next is gone. For decades, aviation ownership followed a ladder. You started somewhere reasonable, stretched your mission, and moved up as experience, income, and need grew. That ladder quietly disappeared — not because of failure, but [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President & CTO, VREF Episode Overview In this episode, Jason takes you deep into one of the most consequential — and least understood — shifts happening in aviation right now: the privacy war brewing between the FAA, public flight-tracking, ADS-B technology, corporate secrecy, celebrity security, and a century-old registry system built on transparency. For the first time in U.S. aviation history, aircraft owners can legally hide their [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President & CTO, VREF Episode Overview In this episode, Jason breaks down one of the strangest dynamics to hit aviation in more than a decade — a market that’s slowing down and speeding up at the exact same time. Total transactions are falling… yet the best aircraft are selling faster than they have in years. If you want to understand the real state of the aviation market [...]

Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President & CTO of VREF Length: ~28 minutes Episode Overview In this episode, Jason Zilberbrand takes a hard, unfiltered look at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention — the industry’s flagship event that once defined dealmaking, advocacy, and innovation in business aviation. But in an era of digital transactions, sustainability mandates, and shifting buyer demographics, is NBAA still relevant? Or has it become a nostalgic echo of what business aviation used to [...]

Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF, ASA appraiser, expert witness, 30+ years in aviation. Topic: The messy middle between accepted offer and title transfer—what’s supposed to happen, what actually happens, how deals go off the rails, and how to protect yourself. Episode Summary Jason pulls the curtain back on the transaction phase: LOIs, deposits, pre-buys, escrow, title and liens, and closing mechanics. You’ll learn why “time kills deals,” the most common failure points, and how psychology, [...]

Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF Aircraft Value Reference & Appraisal Services Introduction “Can I afford that airplane?” Jason tackles the question he hears every week—moving past listing prices to the real math behind financing structures, down payments, LTV, amortization, liquidity and net-worth requirements, fixed vs. variable operating costs, and practical rules of thumb. With real aircraft examples and monthly/annual budget breakdowns, this episode shows how to evaluate affordability without getting blindsided. Topics Covered 1) Myth-Busting: [...]