Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations released its report on the 2013 appropriations bill it will be considering. Page 27 of the report discusses the committee’s recommendation to appropriate $1.9 million for research on alternative unleaded avgas in 2013. The report also notes the FAA’s consideration of the Unleaded Avgas Transition Aviation Rulemaking Committee’s (UAT ARC) recommendations for transitioning the industry to an unleaded avgas: “The Committee looks forward to the FAA’s response, including agency plans to implement the recommendations and devote the resources required to transition in a way that effectively balances environmental improvement with aviation safety, technical challenges, and economic impact.”
The UAT ARC completed and submitted its recommendations to the FAA earlier this year and NATA expects the agency to finish its internal review and make the report public shortly.
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 PRIA Advisory Circular Updated |
An expanded Advisory Circular (AC) that outlines the Pilot Records Information Act of 1996 (PRIA) has been published by the FAA. The updated AC-120-68F now addresses common situations that may affect an employer’s process of obtaining records through PRIA. The AC is supplemented by the PRIA Guidance for FAA Inspectors as well as other various documents found on the PRIA Web site.
The PRIA requires all air carriers operating under Part 121, 135 or 125 to receive and evaluate background information of the previous five years for every pilot applicant. An applicant’s training, experience, qualification and safety background must be thoroughly evaluated before he or she begins service at the company.
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| Fact Sheet Outlines Plan For Improving General Aviation Safety |
The FAA General Aviation Safety Fact Sheet details the various means of reducing general aviation accidents. In an effort to reduce the general aviation fatal accident rate by 10 percent from 2009-2018, the fact sheet details methods to improve overall safety by covering such topics as aircraft design and new technology. The FAA emphasizes strong communication with the general aviation community by building its online resources as well as establishing the Airman Testing Standards and Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to reevaluate the standard of testing pilots.
The report states the top 10 leading causes of fatal general aviation accidents from 2001-2011. The top three were:
- Loss of Control
- Controlled Flight Into Terrain
- System Component Failure-Powerplant
While all causes have decreased significantly over the past three years, the overall general aviation fatal accident rate has remained fairly stagnant. The fatal accident rate was 1.3 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours flown compared to 1.10 during the previous year.
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Relevant updates from the FAA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security are compiled each day from the Federal Register. The latest notices, rules and proposed rules can now be found in a single source by clicking here.
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Application Of Commercial Taxes To Private Flights
A Three-Part Webinar Series In July |
NATA will host a three-part webinar series in July on this topic. The webinars may be purchased separately at $99/each or together as a package for only $249.
All Webinar revenue will be applied to NATA's advocacy and communications efforts is opposition to the expansion of commercial excise taxes to private flights.
About the Issue
Congress created different taxes for commercial and non-commercial aircraft operations. In both cases, taxes collected are for the benefit of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The commercial federal excise taxes are imposed on amounts paid by passengers on the airlines and other commercial air carriers. Non-commercial excise taxes are applied on the fuel used in private or general aviation operations. The IRS has generally chosen to ignore how the FAA regulates operations and, instead, makes its own determination (IRS Revenue Ruling 78-75). Despite decades of accepted practice, the IRS is now attempting to expand the scope of operations covered by commercial taxes to those that are clearly private in nature.
At issue is that, after decades of prior audits, guidance (IRS Revenue Ruling 58-215) and enforcement that have consistently deemed operations conducted with the assistance of an aircraft management company to be private and thus subject to the noncommercial taxes, the IRS is now attempting to reverse course and deem all such operations as commercial.
This course reversal from the IRS is most recently shown in a Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) memorandum issued in early March. Although this communication cannot be used or cited as precedent, this information is already being widely discussed among IRS auditors and is influencing their approach to audits.
The CCA reviews three scenarios wherein the IRS Chief Counsel determines that the fees paid by an aircraft owner to a company for contracted aircraft management services makes the operations commercial and, therefore, those fees are subject to the commercial federal excise taxes. By deeming these situations to be commercial aviation, the IRS position equates flights by a private individual, flying on his or her own aircraft, to and from locations of the owner’s choosing, at times determined by the owner as essentially the same as someone who bought an airline ticket.
If allowed to stand, the likely result of this IRS position is that aircraft owners will be less likely to use management companies, particularly when services are provided by an air charter operator, and will establish total “in-house” flight departments. This will cause owners to miss out on the safety and compliance benefits of working with contracted expertise, while also decreasing the number of aircraft available in the on-demand charter market. This loss of aircraft supply would lead to higher charter costs and some air carriers laying off employees or shutting down entirely due to the loss of available aircraft in the marketplace.
To assist members in fully understanding the impact that this CCA is already having on the aircraft management community, NATA has developed a three-part webinar series with leading subject matter experts. This series will provide a comprehensive overview of the issues in the CAA, how members can prepare for an audit, how aircraft management agreements could be revised and how to achieve balance between IRS FET issues and FAA operational control issues for managed aircraft that are also utilized in Part 135 operations.
All webinars will feature ample time for attendee questions.
Application of Commercial Taxes to Private Flights
Webinar 1 of 3 - The Audit Process $99.00
The first webinar in our three-part series will give an overview of the process operators can expect during an IRS FET audit. Operators will learn how to prepare and what to expect during the audit. The rights of the taxpayer (i.e. the charter operator) will be covered, including details on the appeals process. Operators will gain confidence in how to prepare if notified of an audit and have an understanding of the timing and process involved.
Webinar Speaker: Nel Stubbs, Conklin & de Decker - Bio
Date: July 11, 2012, at 12:00 EST
Application of Commercial Taxes to Private Flights
Webinar 2 of 3 - Prospective Preparation $99.00
This second webinar in the series will help operators providing management services to understand better if and how they should approach possible revisions to their management agreements in light of on-going audit activity and the issues highlighted in the CCA.
Webinar Speaker: Keith Swirsky, GKG Law, P.C. - Bio
Date: July 18, 2012, at 12:00 EST
Application of Commercial Taxes to Private Flights
Webinar 3 of 3 - Achieving Balance $99.00
The third webinar in our series will provide a summary of the prior issues and questions discussed and provide operators with an understanding of the need to ensure that proper FAA operational control standards are adhered to while operators at the same time endeavor to position their business best for potential IRS audits.
Webinar Speaker: Kent Jackson, Jackson & Wade, LLC - Bio
Date: July 25, 2012, at 12:00 EST
All Webinar revenue will be applied to NATA's advocacy and communications efforts is opposition to the expansion of commercial excise taxes to private flights.
Click here to register for one or more of these webinars.
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The Most Important Question To Ask A Customer
Don't Miss This Webinar on June 28 |
During this webinar, we'll discuss ways to determine your SQ (Service Quotient) score. Similar to what an IQ score reveals about a person, an SQ score can reveal a lot about your FBO and how well you are meeting the needs of your customers. We'll discuss ways to benchmark your customer service efforts and reveal to you the secret question you should always ask a customer.
Speakers: Ron Jackson, The Jackson Group
John Enticknap, Aviation Business Strategies Group
Date/Time: June 28, 2012, at 12:00 noon EDT
Click here to register. Registration for this webinar is $49.95 per location and includes a copy of presentation materials and link to a recording of the webinar.
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| New Publications – Special Rates And Limited-Time Offers Are Available |
NATA announced the release of several new and updated publications since late 2011. The following two publications were made available at the Air Charter Summit this month.
The Charter Consumer Guide is a FREE publication available by download at www.nata.aero/store. This publication was designed to help charter consumers answer the following questions and more:
- When does it make sense to charter?
- How much does a charter flight cost?
- What information should I have when calling a charter operator?
- What information should I ask the charter operator?
- How do I find a charter operator?
- So what makes charter smarter?
The Will-Not-Carry Operator Hazardous Materials Training Manual (Special - $75 until July 31, 2012) is a downloadable and easily customizable publication that can be used to satisfy FAA requirements for will-not-carry operators to have a HAZMAT training program. Once purchased and downloaded, the operator simply updates the information in the highlighted fields with company-specific details and follows the straightforward guidance on complying with provisions of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR), Title 49 Code of the Federal Regulations (49 CFR) and Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The regulations have changed. If you haven’t updated your manual recently, you should download your copy today.
NATA is offering the next three books separately or together as an FBO Managers Resource Kit. The FBO Managers Resource Kit offers the best discount price for these publications: $600 for members.
The Community Relations Toolkit ($149 for members, if purchased separately from the FBO Managers Resource Kit) was developed to help airports expand community outreach efforts to airport neighbors and key stakeholders. This handbook has been developed to provide a guideline for community relations efforts.
Negotiating Aviation Agreements: A Guidebook for Building and Protecting Your Business ($399 for members, if purchased separately from the FBO Managers Resource Kit) is a resource for fixed base operators and specialized aviation service operations doing business at general aviation airports. Sample provisions and practical tips are included in this guidebook.
Refueling and Quality Control Procedures for Airport Service and Support Operations($195 for members, if purchased separately from the FBO Managers Resource Kit) provides airport fuel service providers a comprehensive review of the many complex standards and requirements for the handling of aviation fuel in a way that is easy to understand. The incorporation of full-color photographs adds to the usefulness of the 2011 revision as a teaching tool for new and seasoned fuel handling technicians alike.
The aforementioned publications and additional products are available at the NATA Store at www.nata.aero/store.
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| Purchase Popular 2012 Compensation Report Today |
NATA has published the results of its 2012 survey of general aviation service employee compensation. The 2012 Compensation Report includes salaries and benefits for pilots, line-service personnel and maintenance technicians.
Employee compensation is broken down by geographic region of the country, by the company's gross sales, by size of the town or city in which the company is located and by the number of employees in the company. In addition to pilots and maintenance technicians, the report includes compensation for inspectors and line service and customer service representatives, among others.
Association Research Inc., a leading economic research firm based in Rockville, Maryland, conducted the salary study. For privacy reasons, none of the individual responses are provided to NATA.
The 2012 Compensation Report is provided at no cost to NATA members who participated in the study. For non-participating members, the charge is $130. The non-NATA member cost is $310.
A copy of the 2012 Compensation Report may be purchased on the NATA Web site under Products and Services by clicking on Publications.
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| NATA RFPs, Classifieds And Job Board |
Were you aware that NATA members can post jobs, RFPs and classifieds to the NATA Web site? This section of the NATA Web site is available exclusively for members and can be found by clicking here. Members can also use this area to upload jobs and RFPs by filling out a simple form and clicking “submit.”
You may also submit your post by emailing it to membership@nata.aero.
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