BIZAV GETS BEHIND NGATS
Can the general and business aviation industry have the cake of a Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) without having to "eat" user fees, too? Perhaps it can, if refinement of positions taken recently by NBAA and AOPA on pending legislation to reauthorize the FAA and install a user-fee scheme is any indication. In remarks last week at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit, National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO Ed Bolen discussed several “Next Generation” technologies supported by the general aviation community, specifically highlighting automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) while reminding attendees that a new funding structure, like the FAA's proposed user fees, was not necessary for modernization. Similarly, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Phil Boyer, who co-chairs an industry panel tasked with advising the group overseeing NGATS development, recently remarked on his "huge involvement and enthusiasm in seeing to it that NextGen happens." These comments by Bolen and Boyer appear to be the latest attempts to "de-link" the FAA's user-fee plans and NGATS. And they have company. More...

MEANWHILE, IS BLAKEY BACKPEDALING ON FAA PROJECT SUCCESSES?
It appears that FAA Administrator Marion Blakey is backing off her claim that "one hundred percent of our major capital programs are on schedule and on budget," a statement she made most recently in a speech March 29 to the Aircraft Electronics Association. During a speech last Thursday at the Pratt & Whitney Women's Leadership Forum, Blakey watered down this statement to a mere "90 percent of our major capital projects" being on time and on budget. In her carefully crafted speech last week she also said, "Let me tell you this: under our proposal, the majority of general aviation will never pay a user fee for air traffic control." The key word here is "majority," which might be a misnomer since AOPA has discovered that the FAA's proposal would impose user fees for general aviation aircraft flying in Class B airspace. While pilots could fly around this airspace to avoid such fees, it would add inconvenience and extra flying time, possibly resulting in additional operating expenses that could make the user-fee option more cost-effective. More...

NTSB LINKS CONTROLLER FATIGUE TO COMAIR CRASH AT LEX
In formal safety recommendations issued yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board tackled the issue of controller fatigue, suggesting the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) work together to "to reduce the potential for controller fatigue." The recommendations, numbered A-07-30 through -32, come during the NTSB's investigation into the Aug. 27, 2006, fatal crash of Comair Flight 5191, a Bombardier CRJ-100, which attempted taking off from a too-short runway at the Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Ky., in pre-dawn hours. Together with earlier recommendations to the FAA, yesterday's action begins to paint a picture of what the NTSB may conclude was the accident's probable cause. According to the NTSB, the single on-duty controller at LEX that morning "had worked a shift from 0630 to 1430 the day before the accident," returning nine hours later to work a shift beginning at 2330. The controller's only sleep in the 24 hours before the accident was a two-hour nap between the two shifts. And, FAA supervisors apparently scheduled the controller to be alone in the tower at LEX, apparently violating the agency's own staffing rules. More...

FLIGHTSAFETY BEGINS CESSNA CITATION MUSTANG SIMULATOR TRAINING
Cessna Aircraft Company last week said it and FlightSafety International (FSI) have inaugurated their Citation Mustang training program following last month's FAA and EASA qualification of the Mustang simulator. Cessna added that the training program started on schedule. The FAA qualified the simulator to Level D, the highest certification available for simulators. EASA qualification is currently established at Level C, but the company says it will be upgraded to Level D on EASA's Citation Mustang type certification, expected later this year. Cessna said the new simulator qualifications will allow FlightSafety to train domestic and foreign pilots for the Citation Mustang type rating, which will be available at FSI's Learning Centers in Wichita, Kan., and in Farnborough, U.K. The training will be available at Farnborough beginning in the fourth quarter of 2007. More...

NEW HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORPORATION DELIVERS FIRST TWO AIRCRAFT
With only 48 hours of operation as the new Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, the company in late March delivered its first two new aircraft to commercial and government customers. The sale of Raytheon Aircraft Company was completed on March 26 and on March 28, Hawker Beechcraft delivered a new Beechcraft Model G36 Bonanza to businessman/pilot Vic Flegler. The same day, the company turned over a new T-6A Texan II primary trainer to Capt. Brent Looby and Capt. Matt Pearce (USMC) from Vance Air Force Base. The T-6A Texan II is the military trainer for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy’s Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS). More...

NBAA RELEASES APPROACH AND LANDING TRAINING AID
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) yesterday released a training aid it says is designed to reduce approach-and-landing accidents (ALAR). The new, 90-minute interactive training aid is packaged on a CD-ROM and was produced for NBAA members in partnership with the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). Dubbed the "NBAA ALAR Training Aid," it customizes FSF's Approach-and-Landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) Tool Kit materials for business aviation users with select publications and presentations, augmented by newly developed visual aids and a discussion leader’s guide for the aviation industry. The NBAA ALAR Training Aid is available to all NBAA Operating Members as a membership premium. More...

NO MORE QUIET TIME AT THE FBO?
It used to be an FBO lounge was a calm shelter from the outside world. Few people even knew the FBO existed -- over there on the other side of the airport -- and even fewer had a reason to go there. Pilots and passengers could go to an FBO and actually count on some peace and quiet, and on not being bombarded by commercial messages, competing for their attention and dollars. Alas, those days may be gone. Enter SeeSaw Networks -- no, we're not making this up -- and its newly acquired affiliate JetSet Media, which specializes in reaching the "ultra wealthy, placing digital screens inside private aviation terminals that provide service to celebrities, athletes, corporate executives, private business-owners and wealthy individuals," according to a company press release. SeeSaw bills itself as "the leading out-of-home digital media company," focusing on what it calls digital signage: the colorful, scrolling text and images you'll find at places like sports bars, bookstores, grocery stores and, yes, U.S. border crossings, according to the company's Web site. And now FBOs, too. More...

GULFSTREAM BREAKS GROUND FOR NEW BUILDING
Gulfstream Aerospace last week said it recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new business-jet manufacturing building at its headquarters in Savannah, and did so 40 years after the company began operations at the site. The new 306,104-square-foot manufacturing building is in addition to approximately 400,000 square feet of existing manufacturing space the company already uses. Using its existing space, Gulfstream said it expects to manufacture around 80 of its large-cabin business jets in 2007. The new manufacturing building will include 237,827 square feet of assembly and paint areas and another 68,277 square feet of offices, shops and a medical room. More...

NAVERUS EARNS FAA RNP APPROVAL
Naverus, a Seattle-based company developing required navigation performance flight procedures for air carriers and private operators, said this week it had obtained FAA authorization as an RNP procedure developer. According to the company, the new FAA authorization -- the first company so recognized by the agency -- recognizes its ability to provide all the products and services needed for implementation of an RNP program. The company will serve airlines, other aircraft operators and airports by designing RNP procedures, integration, quality assurance, flight validation and maintenance services. The authorization, combined with the FAA's recent qualification of Naverus as RNP operations Approval Consultants, enables the company to offer "turn-key" services to its customers. More...

TRAVOLTA DENIES EMERGENCY 707 LANDING AT SHANNON
Actor and aviation aficionado John Travolta is denying published reports that he was forced to declare an emergency while flying his personal Boeing 707 from Germany to New York last Monday. Despite reports stating he successfully landed his ex-Qantas Boeing 707-138 at Shannon, Ireland, after what reportedly were engine-related "technical difficulties," Travolta says he had landed there for a normal fuel stop but, on departure, the number-two engine starter failed. The actor/pilot reportedly chartered another airplane -- type unknown -- and continued his journey. "There was never an emergency. It was just a fuel stop and when we went to depart, the number two engine needed a new starter," Travolta said in a statement. More...