Volume 2, Number 08 -- April 28, 2004

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The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded Business News Coverage At AVweb's Business NewsWire.

NBAA’S DEPARTED DO NOT GO QUIETLY…
It's been anything but a dull month at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). As AVweb reported in the last edition of Business AVflash , President and CEO Shelley Longmuir departed her position on April 1 after only nine months on the job. The association's press release about Longmuir was accompanied by news that two longtime staffers, Bob Blouin and Cassandra Bosco, would remain at the association, despite their announced resignations. That same April 1 press release also announced the departure of Bob Warren, executive vice president and COO, who was hired by Longmuir, and the appointment of NBAA Chairman Donald E. Baldwin as interim president and CEO. A search committee, headed by NBAA Vice Chairman Ken Emerick, was formed to begin work on identifying a new president and CEO. All of which seemed to be the end of the beginning for the NBAA's transition to a new president. Indeed, it all seemed to be over except for the shouting. What no one knew at the time was how long the shouting would continue.

The shouting began in the form of an April 15 letter from Warren to the NBAA's members in which he described the association's board of directors' decision to terminate Longmuir's employment -- which he said began with a mandate to be a "change agent" -- as a return to "business as usual" and "foreclosing NBAA from advancing a meaningful political agenda." In addition to describing the NBAA's keystone aviation security policy initiative -- the Transportation Security Administration Access Certificate, or TSAAC -- as "limited" and "inadequate," Warren went on to raise a series of what he called "troubling management issues," including "imprudent financial management, inappropriate staff travel [and] ... excess staff and Board expenditures," among other criticisms. His letter to the NBAA's members concluded by saying that the association's board of directors "went the wrong way in causing someone with [Longmuir's] credentials to leave. They need to hear from you loud and clear to get back on the right course." Perhaps in response to Warren’s challenge -- perhaps in helping to ensure that the lines of communication between the organization and its members remained open -- the NBAA has established a Web page dedicated to obtaining from its members suggestions on its next president. More...

…AND NBAA RESPONDS…
While that was apparently all Warren had to add -- at least until we check e-mail again -- the NBAA had yet to formally respond. That changed on April 16, when association Chairman Don Baldwin wrote a letter to the membership. It changed again two days later when former NBAA President Jack Olcott wrote his own letter. Baldwin’s letter started out, in part, by noting that, "Until now, the Board had tried to remain generous in its comments regarding the separation. However, we must now set the record straight." The Baldwin letter went on to say that Warren’s "version of events contains wholesale misrepresentations of role, fact and emphasis." Specifically, according to Baldwin, "Ms. Longmuir and Mr. Warren failed to follow through on a whole host of issues they raised, despite receiving the Board's complete approval and repeated urging to implement approved changes over many months." Perhaps in response to Warren’s charges -- perhaps by coincidence -- Baldwin’s letter also announced the hiring of a new director of security and said that the NBAA had "instituted improvements in our financial controls, including changing investment counsel." More...

…ANYBODY GOT A FORK?
Since the April 18 Olcott letter, things have been much quieter on the NBAA front. Although the past few weeks’ events have clearly put a strain on things, no new eruptions have been noticed, either at the NBAA or from among its recent departures. One can almost hear the sigh of relief -- kind of like a King Air winding down at the end of a long day -- from among business aviation’s faithful that this latest chapter of the NBAA’s history seems to be behind it. Sticking the fork in this episode -- especially when it’s trying to find a new president -- probably can’t come too soon for the association’s board, staff and members. In the meantime, the NBAA maintains its search for a new president and continues to solicit ideas, names and other input from its members. The content of that input -- as well as its quality and quantity -- remain internal to the association: Ken Emerick, the board member responsible for collecting it, was not available when AVweb spoke with NBAA staff earlier in the week. Not surprisingly, there are no new rumors on whom the NBAA’s next leader will be. More...

BOMBARDIER ALLIES WITH CAMP SYSTEMS…
Meanwhile, the rest of the industry went about its business. Bombardier hooked up with CAMP Systems in a move designed to allow CAMP to assume responsibility for providing maintenance-tracking services for Bombardier business jets. CAMP will provide service for more than 700 Bombardier business aircraft currently enrolled in Bombardier’s in-house Computer Integrated Maintenance Management System (CIMMS); the company will retain Bombardier teams of CIMMS specialists in Wichita and Montréal, and will offer extensive training seminars at locations worldwide to help familiarize customers and operators with its maintenance-tracking systems. More...

…AND DELIVERS FIRST CHALLENGER 300 INTO CORPORATE SERVICE
It’s not the first of its type to enter service, but it’s the first to go to a private operator. "It" is a new Bombardier Challenger 300 bizjet, delivered to Dean Phillips Inc. on April 15, and is the fifth Challenger 300 to enter into service to date. The first four examples have been operating since January with Bombardier’s Flexjet fractional ownership program. Powered by two new Honeywell HTF7000 high-bypass turbofan engines, the Bombardier Challenger 300 delivers a top speed of Mach 0.82 and a maximum nonstop range of 3,100 nm, enabling eight passengers to cross the United States in just five hours. More...

ARE CROP-DUSTERS TERRORISTS?
They’re perhaps not the traditional business aircraft operation but, these days, anyone who hangs out around aircraft is suspect. "They" are crop-dusters -- er, aerial applicators, or agricultural operators -- and, according to an article in The Wichita Eagle, have been subject to new scrutiny by the FBI in recent months. The newspaper reports that more than 3,000 people involved in agricultural operations have been questioned by the feds as a result of lingering worries that the slow and lumbering but specialized aircraft could be used to launch some kind of terrorist attack. More...

CESSNA ADJUSTS
What goes down, can come up, according to Cessna. Earlier this year, the manufacturer revised its sales projection downward after fractional operator NetJets aborted a large order for the company’s Citations. Now, however, Cessna says new orders it has received so far in 2004 will allow it to recoup those losses, and then some. Instead of 165 to 170 new jets, the company expects to deliver 170 to 175 during the year. And, in 2005, Cessna plans to ship some 200 Citations. By comparison, Cessna delivered 197 jets in 2003. More...

TSA WATCH: ALPHABET SOUP PLANS MEETING WITH AGENCY
David M. Stone, the TSA's acting administrator, plans to meet May 7 with the General Aviation Coalition (GAC), a loosely defined collection of all the GA trade associations from the largest to the smallest. The meeting, the latest in a series of ongoing dialogues between the agency and the "problem child" GA community, probably won't generate much in the way of earthshaking developments, however. Likely items on the agenda include the upcoming presidential campaign season and associated airspace restrictions, the status of the TSA's efforts to develop a plan leading to reopening Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to non-scheduled operations and continuing efforts to scale back the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone. More...

WATCH YOUR INBOX...
...the next issue of AVweb's BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on May 12. More...

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WATCH YOUR INBOX...
...the next issue of AVweb's BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on April 28. More...

Business AVflash is a twice-monthly summary of the latest business aviation
news, articles, products, features and events featured on AVweb, the
Internet's Aviation Magazine and News Service. http://www.avweb.com

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Today's issue written by Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside:
http://www.avweb.com/contact/authors.html#jburnside
AVweb's editorial team: http://avweb.com/contact/authors.html.

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