AVmail: February 2, 2009

	Each week, we run a sampling of the letters received to our editorial inbox here in AVmail. One letter that’s particularly relevant, informative, or otherwise compelling will headline this section as our “Letter of the Week,” and we’ll send the author an official AVweb baseball cap as a “thank you” for interacting with us (and the rest of our readership). Send us your comments and questions using this form. Please include your mailing address in your e-mail (just in case your letter is our “Letter of the Week”); by the same token, please let us know if your message is not intended for publication. Letter of the Week: Bizjet Benefits? Ask Obama Why have I not seen it mentioned that President Obama made extensive use of private (chartered) aircraft during his very long Presidential campaign? He found this means of transportation very beneficial, even indispensable, during the two years he was on the campaign trail. So why does he consider this an inappropriate tool for corporations? It would be interesting to know exactly how many flights he made during this period and his reasons for using private aviation. Jim Oeffinger

Bizjet Excesses

Your picture in the Jan. 29 issue of hundreds of bizjets at the last Super Bowl site demonstrates why the public and many GA pilots object to them. All too often they are used for non-business uses and, I suspect, written off as a business expense to avoid taxes.

Just check the Aspen and Eagle, Colorado airports. That’s not business going on there – it’s skiing. With teleconferencing now an easy way to communicate these days, business travel is becoming less and less necessary for the corporate biggies. Their excesses have gotten the USA into this economic mess, and now we who actually work hard for a dollar are saying, “Enough is enough!”

Gary Justus

The Stimulus We Need

I would just like to ask Cessna why they have to be part of the problem with our country. Why would they have a plane made in China (or parts of it) when we have people in this country able to build them? Cessna is laying people off yet [they] have products being made in China. That is why this country is in the trouble it is in. Our jobs should be kept here in America where they belong. “Make in America” – that is the stimulus that we need.

Ron Briggs

Good News, Please

I appreciate your news and keeping us all up to date in what’s going on in the industry, but in times like these it would be good to hear “the glass is half full” rather than half empty. It would be greatly appreciated if you could find some “good news” to report if possible.

Thanks for listening, and have a great 2009.

Robert Randall

The LSA Experience

I’ve seen a lot of coverage on S-LSA from the aircraft OEM viewpoint. How about something from the users and owners in the areas of warranty coverage and issues, aircraft quality, operating costs, availability of parts and support, accuracy and usability of the POH and Maintenance Manual (especially maintenance procedures and parts books)? How about something from the insurance companies on how they define (interpret) compliance with the ASTM Standards, especially in the area of the owner or mechanic maintaining the aircraft in the original “as-built” configuration?

Richard Norris

Counting Jets

In the news item “Emirates Air May Turn Crisis into Opportunity,” it says Emirates has 58 Airbus A380s. They might have that many on order, but the total world fleet is nowhere near 58 yet, and Emirates certainly doesn’t have that many.

Jeff Rankin-Lowe

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