Aviation International News
March 2017
PUBLICATIONS Vol. 49 No. 3 $9.00
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www.ainonline.com
Safety Bizav’s safety record AIN takes an in-depth look at the industry’s safety record from 2010 to 2016, and the results are impressive, especially for Part 91K. However, a significant number of accidents were the result of the crew’s improper preparation. page 12
Airports and FBOs New FBO at Santa Ana Signature is contesting the county’s decision to award ACI Jet the leasehold the chain has held for 20 years. page 10
Rotorcraft Establishing IBF standards Inlet distortion limits and power assurance checks remain the major issues to be ironed out before the FAA issues a policy statement. page 52
LEAVING SANTA MONICA
Opinion
The besieged Southern California airport faces closure in 2028 now that the FAA has capitulated and abandoned its support for efforts to keep the field open. But interim measures are already casting a pall on operations at SMO. JetSuiteX was planning to offer regular air service from the field using ERJ135s, but those aircraft (and even smaller jets such as this CJ3) operating under Part 135 face exclusion by the city’s stated intention to shorten the runway to 3,500 feet from its current 4,973 feet. SMO proponents vow to continue the battle and prevail. Page 8
Fixing the pilot shortage There is a simple solution to the shortage, says one service veteran: let us use VA benefits for primary flight training. page 43
Business Aviation
Legal experts fear major Brexit disruption for aviation by David Donald Eight months ago, Britain voted in a referendum to leave the European Union (EU), embarking on an uncharted path and plunging the business community as a whole into a spiral of uncertainty. By the end of this month, the UK government is expected to initiate the so-called Article 50 clause that will mark the point of no return in the complex Brexit process, through which the country will abandon its EU membership after a two-year period of negotations with the remaining 27 states. Advocates of Brexit say the UK is poised to enjoy a golden age of economic independence in which industry and commerce will be free from the supposed shackles of EU legislation and regulation. However,
since the referendum, the EU’s political leadership has made it clear that the UK will be excluded from access to its single market if it refuses to honor existing agreements covering areas such as the free movement
of labor. The UK’s Conservative government is refusing to compromise, insisting that the country can thrive outside the EU by forging new trading alliances with countries worldwide. The UK aviation industry—
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and its partners and customers in the EU—arguably faces the greatest uncertainty from Brexit. For instance, how will UK-based commercial operators be able to fly for hire within the EU if they lose their cabotage rights? Will the UK remain a member of the European Aviation Safety Agency? If not, how will it replace EASA regulations with its own? “There is no doubt that Brexit could be hugely disruptive to aviation from an operational and regulatory perspective.”
Continues on page 49 u
As airline groups court U.S. President, bizav vows to fight separate ATC by Kerry Lynch Business aviation and other interests are stepping up their campaigns against a push for a userfunded independent ATC system in light of a meeting between President Donald Trump and airline and airport interests. In a statement following the February 9 meeting, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said he is encouraged that the President is giving attention to the needs of the
aviation system, but warned against placing control of the system in the hands of one segment within the industry. “We’re delighted that, in today’s meeting, the President made clear that aviation modernization is important; that’s a goal with which we agree, and the business aviation community will
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The industry stands ready to meet new international regulations, as it has for years embraced environmentally friendly ops as a means of keeping costs in check. Page 20