NATA News

On Friday, the General Aviation Avgas Coalition, of which NATA is an active member, submitted formal comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the agency’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) regarding emissions from general aviation aircraft using leaded aviation gasoline. This ANPR is an early regulatory stage of the process outlined in the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the regulation of air pollutants. These comments were the result of a comprehensive effort by the members of the coalition, whose members are NATA, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the Experimental Aircraft Association, the General Aviation Manufactures Association, the National Business Aircraft Association, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petrochemical Refiners Association. The comments stressed the coalition’s efforts to transition to an unleaded fuel for general aviation, but highlighted the many technical and safety concerns that must be addressed.

Under the CAA, the EPA must either issue a finding that lead emissions from general aviation aircraft endanger human health and welfare, determine that those lead emissions do not endanger human health and welfare, or undertake further study on the matter. The coalition indicated that the EPA currently has only a limited amount of data with which to pursue any further rulemaking and must seriously consider further study of leaded avgas usage and aircraft emissions before proceeding.

“Before making any determination related to lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft, the EPA should collect…information, design a more comprehensive study, and evaluate avgas emissions using a more comprehensive data set.”

As the EPA begins the process of reviewing the comments submitted, NATA and the General Aviation Avgas Coalition will continue to work with the agency, the FAA, Congress and the industry in general to chart a path that addresses the significant technical and safety challenges of moving our industry towards an unleaded future.

The General Aviation Avgas Coalition comments can be viewed by clicking here.

A copy of EPA’s ANPR on lead emissions from GA aircraft is available here.

This week as the California regular legislative session draws to a close, NATA continues to work to get a bill passed, and signed by the governor Schwarzenegger, that will provide a delay in compliance with the rules issued by the California Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) regulating flight training.

Last week, NATA negotiated an action to move a bill closer to being signed. This negotiation involves an agreement between Assemblyman Portantino and Assemblyman Niello to move the portions of AB 1889 that are unrelated to flight training into AB 1140 and then moving forward with getting AB 1140 passed and sent to the governor. AB 1140 would retain a delay in compliance for all flight training until July 1, 2011, as well as retain its status as an urgency measure. The provision requiring the legislature to hold a hearing will be removed, although it is highly unlikely that this will prevent a hearing from actually being held, and a provision from AB 1889 requiring all flight training facilities to register with the BPPE during the delay will be added to AB 1140.

While legislative actions are always fluid and subject to change, the next steps will involve having AB 1140 moved out of the Appropriations Committee to the Senate floor and then on to the Assembly for concurrence.

NATA believes that this negotiated solution will make the resultant bill more likely to be signed by the governor, as the administration specifically requested that an urgency clause be included with the delay in compliance for flight training. NATA will provide further updates on the status of the amended AB 1140 to association members and the industry in general in the next several days.

Last week, the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education held a public meeting to consider a request from the Jet University Student Alumni Association that flight training conducted in the state under title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 61, be regulated by the board as a “private vocational program.” Defining flight training activities as a “private vocational program” would have required all flight instructors and flight schools to comply with the existing state regulations for private postsecondary educational institutions.

NATA submitted formal comments to the board opposing the proposal and participated in the public meeting via teleconference. During the meeting, the board discussed a legal opinion on the matter it had received from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and received comment from the public. Several members of the board expressed concern over the fact that a significant amount of prepaid tuition had been lost by flight training students in recent years when their schools went out of business. However, the majority of the board felt that flight training activities conducted under Part 61 fell outside the statutory requirements for being defined as “private vocational programs.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, the board passed a motion determining that flight training conducted under Part 61 did not fall within the board’s regulatory authority.

NATA has released its 2010 annual survey report of general aviation service employee compensation. The report includes salaries and benefits for pilots, line-service personnel and maintenance technicians.

Employees’ 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 report is provided to NATA members who participated in the survey at no cost. The downloadable pdf version is available at a cost of $125 for non-participating members and $299 for non-NATA members. There is an additional $25 charge to receive a hardcopy of the report.

A copy of the report may be purchased on the NATA Web site at www.nata.aero in the NATA Store.

Those of us in the aviation industry can certainly understand why so many people are disappointed with the recent performance of our political leaders. We’ve seen up close and personal how inefficient, ineffective, and inept government can be. The sorry tale of FAA reauthorization legislation over the past three years is a good example. Click here to read post.

The NATA Safety 1st Flight Crew Briefings are customized online training tools that give pilots and other flight crew members flying into and out of an airport access to critical safety information about the airport, including its location, layout, operations, regulations, and safety and security procedures. Flight Crew Briefings for Teterboro Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport were launched in the past two years and have recorded more than 300,000 views between the two sites. Recently, FltPlan.com agreed to post a link to each of the briefings on their Web site. Look for the “Flight Crew Briefings” image near the top of the Newark and Teterboro pages to access training from the FltPlan.com site.

Visit www.nata.aero/flightcrewbriefings for more details on the briefings, including information on how you can sponsor one at your airport.

9/9/2010 - PLST Online Best Practices For Trainers/Administrators (FREE), Noon EDT
If you've made the investment in NATA's Safety 1st PLST Online, this webinar will help you maximize its capabilities. Louis Soares and Amy Koranda will review questions sent by registered attendees as well as those frequently asked by current PLST Online participants.

Additional E-learn webinars:

9/22/2010 - FBO Success Preview Webinar - What To Expect October 6-7, 2010 In Ft. Lauderdale, FL (FREE), Noon EDT

9/30/2010 - Social Media Strategies: Tools & Tactics for Success ($49.95), Noon EDT

10/13/2010 - The Strategic Business Plan - A Critical Tool For Developing, Operating, Managing, And Marketing An Aviation Business ($49.95), 1:00 p.m. EDT

To register for NATA's E-Learn Webinars, visit www.nata.aero/webinars.

Don’t Miss FAA-Required Fire Safety Training In October

The Line Service Supervisor Training Seminar, October 6-7 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, will round out the 2010 LSST seminar schedule. Don't miss the chance to become more proficient in strategic planning, supervising staff, motivating others, communicating and coaching a team as well as to complete FAA-required 14 CFR 139.321 Fire Safety Training before the end of the year. This high-impact, high-energy seminar includes guided group debates, interactive discussions and various case studies designed to take you to a new level of leadership.

Don't miss the final LSST Seminar in 2010. Click here to register today for the October 6-7 seminar in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

If you are an FBO owner/operator, manager or supervisor, join our webinar to learn how this seminar is designed to help you become more successful in three key areas: operations, marketing and profitability. John Enticknap and Ron Jackson, our lead instructors, will hit the highlights of what it takes for your FBO's success during this webinar. Spend 30 minutes with us to find out more about this popular program, and get your questions answered before its conclusion. This FREE webinar will take place on September 22 beginning at Noon EDT. Visit www.nata.aero/webinars to register.

Click here for more details on the FBO Success Seminar and to register for the seminar today.