Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I don’t do the “Follow Friday” thing and I rarely actively mention other blogs, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a required reading list. I figured that during this week of 5 Cranky Year celebrations, it would be a great time to give a tip of the cap to those blogs that I never skip. Sure, there are others I read, but I decided to cut this down to 10. My apologies to those who aren’t mentioned here, but I had to cap it somewhere. If you aren’t following these, you’ll want to reconsider. These are in alphabetical order:

Airline Biz Blog – Terry Maxon at the Dallas Morning News is one of the last of a dying breed: the newspaper airline reporter. He covers American and Southwest in-depth since those two airlines are so important to the locals in Dallas. You’ll get broader information as well, but the jewel is the incredible in-depth local coverage on these two.

Airline Reporter – David Parker Brown lives in Seattle and so you’ll see some of the local goings-on from his perspective. What I like about this blog is you often feel like David is learning right along with you. He’s enthusiastic, and it’s a unique perspective, so it’s fun to follow.

Aviation Queen – I hope you all know my good friend Benét Wilson, but for newbies to this industry, I fear you don’t. Benét has been covering the world of biz aviation for Aviation Week over the last few years, so she hasn’t had an outlet for commercial aviation. That’s too bad, because not only did she used to cover the regionals like no other, but she’s also worked at Mesa, Delta, and Rolls-Royce engines in corporate communications. She’s now back with this new blog, so hopefully she’s here to stay in the commercial world, at least in some form.

FlightBlogger – If you follow the aircraft manufacturing world, then you know Jon Ostrower. Jon broke several stories on the 787 during its development and he’s now one of the premier writers on aircraft manufacturing. If you don’t love the manufacturers, then this might be too into the weeds for you, but you won’t find better info anywhere.

Flight Level 390 – I don’t think there’s a blog I enjoy reading more than Captain Dave’s blog on his day-to-day experiences as a commercial pilot. Dave weaves a great story in every post, and I just cannot stop reading. See for yourself and you’ll be hooked.

PlaneBusiness – Holly Hegeman’s newsletter isn’t a blog and is the only one of the list that requires a paid subscription, but I’ve been reading since college and I never miss an issue. Holly looks at the industry from a financial perspective, but that’s not all she covers. It really is a must-read for those in the business.

Runway Girl – As Jon Ostrower is to aircraft manufacturing, Mary Kirby is to the world of inflight entertainment and onboard experience. If you’re looking to learn more about seats on airplanes or new passenger technologies, this should be one of your first stops.

Things in the Sky – Dan Webb may still be in college, but he’s also already a seasoned blogger. I think Dan spends his nights combing SEC filings and looking through government data, because he pulls out some really interesting details out from the weeds. He’s also apparently the favorite blogger of Virgin America, because he seems to have a new interview with CEO David Cush every week. It’s always worth a read.

Today in the Sky – You probably don’t know Ben Mutzabaugh’s opinion on many things, but that’s because he’s not here to give one. Ben posts rapid fire news stories for USA Today, and it’s that frequency that I like. He’ll often have several links to the most interesting coverage on each story and that makes for a great resource.

View From the Wing – There are a lot of bloggers in the miles/points space and I read several, but if I had to pick one, it would be Gary Leff’s blog. I might not be a mileage junkie at all, but I still like to keep tabs on what’s happening in that world, and Gary does a great job of filtering out the garbage and only talking about the really useful/interesting promotions and changes.

There you have it, my top ten. Oh sure, there are others I read as well, but I had to cut this list somewhere. Put some of your favorites down below.

In the Trenches: Handling Mt. Everest – Intuit Small Business Blog
With all the CNN articles flying around late last week, my Intuit post got lost in the shuffle. So here it is. We’ve been handling a large (for us) conference this week, and the ramp up has been fun.

In the Trenches: Accounting in the Cloud – Intuit Small Business Blog
I use Quickbooks on my desktop, but I’d like to get others involved and that means considering the cloud. Not sure that it’s worth it.

Road warriors’ best tips for smooth travel – CNN Out of the Office
This week, I asked road warriors for their best travel tips.

In the Trenches: When Should I Blog? – Intuit Small Business Blog
You may not realize it, but I do think a lot about how often to talk about Cranky Concierge in blog posts. It’s not easy to know exactly what to do.

The last Space Shuttle returned from the heavens this week, and what has been a 50 year run of incredible space ambition in the US is now, well, lots of talk and not much else. As a kid growing up in LA in the ’80s, the Shuttle was a huge part of my life. Back then, the Shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base. Those early morning sonic booms were a welcome wake-up call. Even after landings were switched to Florida, the occasional landing at Edwards would bring the twin boom and a flood of memories.

I was a proud member of Young Astronauts in school, and I can still remember exactly where I was when I heard that Challenger had exploded after launch. I was in 3rd grade and I was playing ga-ga ball with friends. One of my friends came running out and said his mom (who worked at the school) had told him that the Challenger had exploded. We didn’t believe him. We assumed that since we could hear the sonic boom when the Shuttle landed, we’d certainly be able to hear an explosion when it launched. We weren’t really thinking that launch was 2,000 miles away.

When we came back into class, our teacher sat us down and turned on the TV. We all sat there in stunned silence. It was the same feeling I had when I woke up to find that Columbia had disintegrated upon re-entry back in 2003.

I loved space enough that I convinced my parents to let me go to Space Camp in 7th grade with two of my friends. At the time, Space Camp had just opened a facility near Kennedy Space Center, and that’s where we went. Though Jinx never did launch us into space like that lucky punk Joaquin Phoenix, it was a week of awesomeness (even if I was just a Payload Specialist). A Shuttle launch was scheduled during our time there, but it was scrubbed. That was as close as I ever got to seeing a launch, but I was hooked. I even wore my light blue flight suit on the flight back home. (Sadly, I can’t find a picture of that right now, just one with the t-shirt.)

The general consensus seems to be that the Shuttle was an ill-advised turn for the space program, and we could have spent our resources more wisely. That’s fine and all, but as the Shuttle program comes to a close, let’s still celebrate what an incredible technical achievement it was. Whether it was the right way to go or not, everyone who worked on putting that program together should be proud of not only the technical achievement but also how the work they did pulled so many kids into dreaming about space throughout the 1980s.

I really hope that we see a revitalized program with missions to the moon, asteroids, and Mars in the not-too-distant future, but I know better than to hold out too much hope. And that brings us to the topic of the week. Where would you like to see the space program go? And will it ever get there?

Low cost carrier Air Asia X announced that its flight from Kuala Lumpur will now go to London Gatwick instead of Stansted. Is this a sign that Gatwick is becoming a more competitive airport under new, non-BAA ownership? Or is it just a one-off move? I know it may just seem like a small change, but could it be the first of bigger changes among London’s secondary airports?