NATA News

The September/October 2016 FAA Safety Briefing focuses on general aviation career options available. Featured articles explore both flying and non-flying aviation careers, as well as some of the new vocations enabled by the small Unmanned Aircraft Systems rule.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a safety alert encouraging mechanics to account for all items after performing maintenance tasks. Mechanics, or others who help with aircraft maintenance, might leave items or residual debris behind that could become foreign object debris (FOD) — including tools, hardware, eyeglasses, keys, portable electronic devices (PEDs), paint chips, and metal shavings. If mechanics and others do not account for every item that they use in or around an aircraft and clean as they go, resultant debris may be ingested into the engine or interfere with critical flight systems, leading to an accident. To view the full NTSB Safety Alert and for other safety resources, follow the “The Safety Net” blog.

Duncan Aviation — a privately-owned jet support facility — is celebrating 60 years of business in 2016. Starting with the purchase of a Beechcraft dealership, Duncan Aviation now includes three full service locations in Lincoln, Nebraska, Battle Creek, Michigan and Provo, Utah, and over 30 total locations across the United States offering avionics, refurbishment, maintenance and other services. “When I started with the company, we were 400 people. Now we’re well over 2,200. That’s really great to celebrate,” said Chairman Todd Duncan. For a detailed look at Duncan Aviation’s history, visit http://www.duncanaviation.aero/60/.

On September 22^nd, Oakland County (Mich.) International Airport and the Michigan Business Aviation Association (MBAA) are hosting the Business Aviation Expo. Included in the program are NATA members Brad Bruce of Pentastar Aviation and Rick Nini of Corporate Eagle — among other industry leaders. The expo is expected to attract representatives from charter operators, fractional ownership providers and service companies, and aircraft manufacturers. For more information, click here.

Nearly half of business aircraft charter flights are booked within two days of departure, according to Avinode’s analysis of 18,000 trips over the past 12 months. Using the company’s SchedAero system, Avinode found 19 percent of the trips are booked the day of travel, while 20 percent are scheduled just one day in advance. They also discovered 80 percent of departing flights were quoted within the previous 48 hours and 90 percent were quoted within the previous five days. “Flight requests are often short notice in the business aviation world, but we didn’t realize that in some cases a matter of hours can make all the difference. If companies don’t have a quick enough process to quote a trip request, the flight will often have already departed,” said SchedAero Business Manager Johan Sjoberg. Read more.

Your Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are the face of your operation, the NATA Certified CSR Program advances your team’s customer service skills and gives your business an advantage over the competition. Presented by NATA and the Aviation Business Strategies Group on September 27^th and 28^th in Long Beach, California, this new certification program starts with an online fundamentals module followed by a robust two-day workshop, where attendees engage in an interactive learning experience. At the program’s conclusion, participants receive the designation NATA Certified CSR. Review the full agenda here and click here to register.

The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) is pleased to announce that Executive Jet Management (EJM) of Cincinnati, Ohio has renewed its status on the ACSF Industry Audit Standard (IAS) Registry. The IAS is the first and only extensive audit program specifically created for on-demand operators by a committee of Part 135 and 91K industry leaders. It is conducted every 24 months and is in-depth in its evaluation of regulatory compliance and the operator’s SMS program against both FAA and international standards. Charter consumers can view the registry here.