Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF The aviation market doesn’t collapse the way people expect. And right now, it’s being tested by something very real. The escalating war involving Iran has already pushed oil back above $100 a barrel, disrupted key energy infrastructure across the Gulf, and put roughly 20% of global oil supply at risk through the Strait of Hormuz . Airlines are rerouting flights, fuel prices are surging, [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF In aviation, few moments create more tension than the pre-buy inspection. Deals slow down. Emotions rise. And what should be a structured financial process suddenly turns into a test of trust. Buyers worry they’ll miss something. Sellers worry the deal will fall apart. Brokers try to keep everything moving. And in the middle of it all, one of the most important steps in the [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Aviation Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF For years, people talked about the “aircraft market” as if it were a single thing. Values rose together Values fell together And broad headlines were enough to describe what was happening. That era is over. In the first quarter of 2026, aircraft values are no longer moving in one cycle. The market has fragmented. Some aircraft remain highly liquid with stable or rising [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF Aviation doesn’t collapse because airplanes stop flying. It tightens when capital stops trusting itself. The last time that happened, the trigger wasn’t an AD, a fuel mandate, or an OEM delay. It was confidence. In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason pulls the lens back from aircraft models and rate cycles to examine the force that actually moves values: institutional trust.  [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF Most aircraft don’t die in a dramatic way. There’s no crash. No grounding order. No public failure. Just a quiet shift in the math. A moment when the market stops valuing the aircraft as a flying machine… and starts valuing it as inventory. In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason Zilberbrand breaks down one of the least discussed — yet most [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF Most aircraft losses don’t make headlines. There’s no accident report. No dramatic engine failure. No obvious red flag at closing. Just a slow, silent erosion of value… that doesn’t reveal itself until the exit fails. In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason Zilberbrand breaks down the invisible structural errors he sees every week — mistakes made by smart, successful buyers who [...]

Why the End of 100LL Isn’t About Lead… and Never Was Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF When the FAA formally committed to phasing out 100LL, the announcement sounded calm, technical, and inevitable. But strip away the press language, and what’s left is the largest structural change to piston aviation since the jet age split general aviation in half. In this episode of The Truth About the Market, Jason digs [...]

Podcast: The Truth About the Market Host: Jason Zilberbrand, President of VREF In this episode of VREF: The Truth About the Market, Jason addresses a growing and troubling trend in aviation commentary: non-aviators publishing financial conclusions about aircraft maintenance—then disclaiming all responsibility for the consequences. This is not a debate about spreadsheets or abstract models. It’s about safety, risk, marketability, and accountability—and what happens when those realities are ignored. In this episode, Jason breaks down: Why [...]

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 [...]