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NBAA’s annual meeting and convention is one of the most commercial events in aviation. Millions of dollars are spent on the trade show by attendees and exhibitors. But the show also has a social side. I always run into people I’ve known for years but haven’t seen lately. It’s just plain fun visiting with them.

Larry Fischer—one of the first people who hired me to speak for an aviation group—was there. We enjoyed reminiscing about old friends who have—and have not—made it big. Speaking of big in the industry, the ever-delightful Bill Cutter was there. Bill has been around forever but still looks like a cross between Clark Gable and Roscoe Turner, and still rides off on week long horseback treks.

John Stafford, for years a valued employee of Showalter Flying Service, now southeast sales manager of the Hiller Group, was there, as was Richard Jenkins.

Richard Jenkins and I worked in Montgomery, AL, about 35 years ago. He is today aviation manager of a large bank. Richard was a part-time artist back in the day, and I bought a print from him. He promised that he would become famous and I would get rich selling the print. We are both still waiting for that to happen, but the print hangs proudly in my home.

David Augustin, President of Corporate Flight Management, walked up with Allen Howell, CEO of the same company. I had never met Allen, but knew his father, Reese Howell, back in the 1970s when he was a Sky God MU-2 pilot and I a low-time new hire of National Aviation Underwriters. I had never even seen the inside of a turbo-prop airplane and was in awe of anyone who could actually fly one. Now his son, for crying out loud, is a CEO. Have I really been around that long?

There were many more delightful old friends, but that’s all I can cover here. It was a great show. Wish you’d been there.

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… amid another robust business aviation annual convention.

The National Business Aviation Association’s annual show is like a steam engine with a never-ending supply of steam, it seems. Some projections say this year’s event could topple 35,000 or more attendees — a record — and activity on the trade show floor and at the aircraft Static Display suggests a record is in the offing. Once again, the NBAA staff gets kudos for its management of the spectacle, particularly in a convention center that is at best challenging in terms of show floor logistics.

This is the aviation event of the year for many in industry, and for many it is one that is a year in planning. It takes coordination, not only from NBAA staffers but from participants as well, to make this show go as well as it does every year.

Which leads to a discussion about location.

A couple of weeks back, I visited New Orleans Lakefront Airport for an update on how the business there is faring two years after Hurricane Katrina. Lakefront was inundated by water from Lake Ponchartrain. It lost two FBOs as a result, and Million Air and Flightline First (a newcomer) are preparing to break ground on new fixed base operations. The bulkheads around the airport have been replaced/reinforced, and the airport is beginning to return to normal.

NBAA, which has a very long and successful relationship with New Orleans, planned to host the annual convention there next year. It also has a positive history of hosting its popular Static Display at Lakefront. Earlier this year, the NBAA board decided that New Orleans wasn’t ready and relocated the 2008 show to Orlando. Interestingly, during my visit to Lakefront, I got this news for the first time. Did I miss it? The NBAA website posts a press release from last April, and association sources say they went through the normal information distribution channels they normally use. Yet, even at the show this week, I have met maybe two people who I discussed this with who knew the venue had changed for ’08. It’s safe to bet that even now after the show has opened few know that next year will be Orlando, not New Orleans.

Now comes word from a very reliable source that when it is held in Orlando next year, the Static Display will be moved from its usual spot, Orlando Executive, to Orlando International. That is, at best, an interesting decision. And one that this source calls highly questionable.

Orlando Executive, like Lakefront, has a history of running successful static displays – perhaps even moreso. It has the facilities, two top-notch FBOs, and an airport that is easy to navigate, both in the air and on the ground. It keeps everyone from having to deal with the hassle factor that comes with one of the busiest international airports in the U.S. And, of course, there’s the Disney factor, adding to the congestion.

The decision, if true, comes at a time when the airlines are charging that business aviation is hampering its activity and not paying its fair share. To paraphrase the source: We have all this congestion with the airlines which is expected to get worse – why do we want to give the carriers a poster board that they can point to when all these business jets are brought into the mix at Orlando International?

More importantly, again according to the source, a decision was made by NBAA to hold off announcing the move of the Static Display until after this year’s show. When asked, an association VP said he was unsure where the static would be held in ’08 and would get back to me. At this writing, he hadn’t.

The NBAA annual is one of the most important events in aviation, period. And one that requires planning. Something, it seems, is amiss. If nothing else, why the confusion?

Thanks for reading. jfi

It really is beginning to come true.

The first promise of the LSA (Light Sport Aircraft) was that people could fly it without a medical. That hasn’t actually happened yet on a widespread basis, mostly, as I see it, because of the insurance problem. Seems nobody wants to insure a non-medical-bearing pilot.

But the second promise—that these aircraft would be used widely for trainers seems to be happening. That’s not a scientific poll, mind you, but I do see a few flight schools advertising that they have LSAs in the training fleet.

I hope that spreads. The LSA really does offer a large drop in the costs of learning to fly. No, they’re not giving them away, but the price offers a tremendous advantage over the other trainers available. Old timers still gripe because it doesn’t sell as cheaply as the old J-3 Cub, but that’s not the right comparison. It sells more cheaply than standard trainers available today and that’s the big point.

It also runs on a lot less fuel than other current trainers. At today’s fuel prices—and—worse yet—those to come, that looms large. Another thing—the LSAs may well increase the popularity of the small airport again. I’d love to see that.

… in the reauthorization drama on Capitol Hill. This week the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee approved its version of FAA and aviation system reauthorization – HR. 2881. If anyone doubts the clout of general aviation groups, particularly the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, this bill serves as evidence that they have the ear of key Congressional leaders. It is almost as though the U.S. House ignored arguments by FAA and the major airlines, via ATA, who had lobbied hard for a total rethinking of how the U.S. aviation system is funded. 

The clout of airport lobbying groups remains in question. At the top of their wish list is an increase in the cap on passenger facility charges (PFCs), currently set at $4.50. Even FAA supported an increase, albeit to $6 – the airports want $7.50, and indexing for inflation. The Senate has proposed a jump to $7, but without House support that remains in question. Earlier this week, Airports Council International-North America was alerting members that Congress was considering abandoning the increase. The fate of a PFC increase now rests with the Senate Finance Committee, which still has to mark up its reauthorization bill proposed in May. The good news for airports is that the House wants to continue strong funding for the Airport Improvement Program. 

H.R. 2881, expected to undergo a full floor vote by week’s end, calls for increasing the tax on non-commercial jet fuel from 21.9 cents per gallon to 36 cents. It would raise the tax on avgas from 19.4 cents per gallon to 24.1 cents. Notably, the bill would repeal the “fuel fraud provision enacted as part of the 2005 surface transportation reauthorization bill that required aviation fuel retailers to purchase jet fuel from their distributors at the same rate as highway diesel fuel (24.4 cents per gallon), sell it at the aviation jet fuel tax rate (21.9 cents per gallon), and obtain a refund from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the 2.5 cents per gallon difference,” according to the National Air Transportation Association. NATA had lobbied hard to have this unnecessary administrative burden taken off the shoulders of its FBO members.   

The increase in fuel taxes is to be targeted at air traffic control modernization. The Senate has proposed a $25 per flight fee on IFR flights that would be used to upgrade ATC. The Ways & Means Committee also hedged its bet, concurrently passing a continuing resolution to maintain the current taxing structure, should the full Congress fail to pass a final bill before September 30. On that day, all current funding authorization expires. 

Thanks for reading. jfi       

According to the FAA—thanks to AVSIG friend Capn. Randy Sohn for sending me this info—on February 1, 2009, the International Cospas-Sarsat Organization (U.S. included) will “terminate processing signals emitted by 121.5 MHz Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs).” The guvmint wants us all to obtain 406 MHz ELTs, which will be processed by the Cospas-Sarsat system. (I didn’t even know there was such a group. Sounds like some kind of health food to me.)

I’ve been through all of this before, with slightly different numbers. We had been stumbling along without ELTs since the Wright Brothers, but it hadn’t bothered Congress a whole lot until one of their own—Congressman Hale Boggs—disappeared in a Cessna 310 in Alaska. This was too much for Congress, which decided something had to be done. So they—Congress, not the FAA—mandated ELTs and all airplanes—with a very few exceptions—had to have one.

Oops! There weren’t that many ELTs available. The deadline was extended because you really couldn’t buy the damn things. Eventually that got straightened out and all God’s chillun had ELTs.

Oops! Some of the batteries required by law were defective. Now everybody had to throw away those batteries and get new, nondefective batteries.

Oops! You couldn’t buy the new batteries. I remember; I tried like heck to find them for brand-new airplanes—you couldn’t get them. Helluva mess. But, eventually we got by that mess, too.

Since then, ELTs have proven to be less than ideal. More than 97 percent of the alerts over the years have been defective. Much time and money was spent searching for airplanes that were not lost. One time, at Huntsville (AL) Aviation, a tornado flattened our main storage hangar and balled up a lot of airplanes on the ramp. We had airplanes stacked like cordwood and ELTs beeped away like a dump truck backing up. This went on for weeks.

So, now we will have the 406 MHz ELTS. I surely hope we get that done with less hassle and better results than we had with the original ELTs.

Keep your fingers crossed.

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… the vultures are circling. An article in USA Today questions her decision to become president of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), suggesting a potential conflict of interest. The article charges that Blakey has made decisions that impact AIA members. Fair enough. Yet, look at her bio and becoming president of an industry trade group seems like a logical next step in her career. She has been a presence in D.C. much of her life and knows the workings of Washington.

Consider: Blakey has served as chair of the NTSB; held four previous presidential appointments; served as Administrator of the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and, has held positions at the Departments of Commerce and Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the White House, and DOT. It’s hard to imagine her going back to her hometown of Gadsden, AL to become the head of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Now, I’ve been critical of FAA Administrators in the past. I used to marvel at how Blakey’s predecessor, Jane Garvey, could captivate an audience. At the end of any of her speeches, however, I would look down at my notes and there was little of substance there. Garvey’s predecessor, David Hinson, was arguably the most qualified person to ever head up the FAA. Yet, my criticisms of Hinson for not taking tough, industry-leading positions of hot issues led to him refusing to talk to me at trade shows.

Blakey has never been one to back away from making tough leadership stances. I have yet to meet any aviation person or group who has had close dealings with the Administrator who did not respect her integrity. Look at the ongoing reauthorization debate and FAA’s position on new user fees (actually, the Administration’s position) – while general aviation groups are vehemently opposed to the FAA proposal, I have never heard one question Blakey’s integrity.

Blakey gets high marks from industry on her leadership in getting the NextGen air traffic control system moving, for taking the agency toward a more business-like operation, and for holding the line on controller salaries – an area in which cost control has been an ongoing concern.

At this week’s National Airports Conference in Tucson, FAA’s Ben DeLeon, director of planning and programming, related how when Blakey first arrived at FAA she challenged the agency’s management to clearly define a long-range national plan, which didn’t exist. The result was the FACT 1 study and the recently released FACT 2, which clearly define regions of the country that will be challenged in the future to meet capacity needs. Everyone seems to agree that this is much needed planning information.

In August, Blakey called together industry and government representatives to challenge them to come up with solutions to runway incursion issues at U.S. airports. The result was a Call to Action that industry and airports are taking, within 60 days, to meet the problem head-on.

As industry awaits the Administration’s nomination for the next FAA Administrator, we can only hope that we get someone as serious (and as tough-minded) as Blakey to address the serious issues facing aviation.

Thanks for reading. jfi

I am always amazed how much world affairs affect me personally, particularly when the guvmint—any guvmint—gets involved.

Our guvmint decided to subsidize the production of ethanol by a good little chunk of change per gallon. They did this for our good, to help us become independent of foreign oil. Farmers have devoted a blue jillion acres to growing corn for the production of guvmint subsidized ethanol. Dairy farmers have to compete to buy corn for their cows at much higher prices.

The upshot of this is that today I paid more than $5.00 for a gallon of milk. Seems like only yesterday that milk was a buck eighty-nine per gallon. How is this helping me? Milk now costs more than the oil from which the program is supposedly saving us.

Think globalization is just for economists to worry about? Consider this… France is part of the European Union. France wants to help create a “green” world. One thing they figured they could do is eliminate the lead from solder, although there wasn’t a lot of lead in solder, and the solder worked.

To achieve their lofty goals, France passed a new standard that requires lead-free solder, which they call RoHS. No matter, why should we care what the French require in their own country?

Ah, but we export a lot of goods to France and those exports must meet French specifications, or they won’t let them in the country. But how much solder do we export to France, anyway, and what does it have to do with me? Well, we export aircraft to France, and those aircraft include electronic components which include circuits which include solder. That solder must meet French specs. Oops! Our manufacturers had to switch to RoHS, even though it required expensive new methods. Everything is now hunky-dory, right?

Now hear this—that RoHS solder has a problem. Turns out that it grows “tin whiskers” which can short out electronic components. That is not good. So what do we do? The French will surely change their requirements, right?

Let’s just sit back and watch.

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