Business aviation operations faced protests by environmental campaigners in multiple locations across Europe this week, with facilities in the UK, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands targeted. Groups including Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion, and Last Generation targeted private terminals and FBOs in a coordinated protest to coincide with the start of the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt. The groups are demanding a complete ban on private jets and high taxes on airline frequent flyers.
In the UK yesterday, protesters tried to blockade the entrances to Farnborough Airport and the Harrods Aviation FBO at London Luton Airport. Similar protests were also staged this week at Milan Linate Airport, and on November 5, around 500 Dutch members of Greenpeace rode bicycles into the business aviation enclave at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and blocked aircraft from being moved.
EBAA condemned the protest at Schiphol, reporting via a LinkedIn post that the demonstration resulted in flights being canceled and that one medical flight had to be diverted. “Our sector flies up to 70 medical flights a day, which saves lives when not disrupted,” said the group. At least one aircraft was damaged during the protest, according to an EBAA member operator.
AINsight: Sacrificing Due Diligence To Buy a Bizjet
The value of due diligence exists in the eyes of the beholder, whose place in an aircraft transaction informs their diligence criteria, inquiries, and judgment.
Most financiers consider the five Cs (character, capacity, capital, collateral, and conditions) and investigate each element before closing a loan or lease. Sellers ensure that they transfer good titles to qualified buyers. Aircraft buyers traditionally perform comprehensive due diligence in all phases of a purchase transaction.
However, in the current seller’s market, buyers that require excessive or even customary diligence may cause a seller to kill the deal and move on to another buyer waiting in the wings that may not require the same level of diligence. As a result, some buyers sacrifice diligence to buy an airplane, any airplane.
To initiate due diligence and avoid costly mistakes, buyers should steel themselves; it is hard to be objective, especially for first-time buyers, during the potentially emotional journey of seeing beautiful time machines for sale. Buyers should also engage experienced aviation professionals, including an aircraft broker, technical consultant, aviation counsel, insurance broker, aviation tax expert, escrow company, and FAA counsel.
At the Bombardier Safety Standdown this week, NTSB member Michael Graham emphasized efforts to get more operators to adopt a safety management system (SMS), and not just because it may become a regulatory requirement. An SMS is part of a robust safety program that should include safety reporting, assessment, and flight data monitoring, he said.
Graham cited a series of accidents where lack of safety management played a critical role, including the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash. He also delved deeper into two fatal accidents—the Safari Aviation helicopter air-tour crash in Hawaii in December 2019 and Aeolus Air Charter Challenger 605 accident in Truckee, California, in July 2021.
In its Most Wanted list, the NTSB has asked the FAA to mandate SMS for all revenue-carrying passenger operations, in addition to requiring operators to implement a flight data monitoring program. Of the 2,000 or so charter operators in the U.S., only a few dozen have adopted the FAA's voluntary SMS program.
“Why didn’t Safari have an SMS?” he asked. “They said it was due to the size and scope of their operation. We hear this over and over again. I’m concerned about that. Small operators mistakenly believe an SMS is overly burdensome. We must change the perception. People know about the known risks. Failure to identify previously unknown risks increases the likelihood of an incident or accident.”
Business aviation maintenance services provider Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI) has added a second private-equity partner with a “significant” investment from Genstar Capital, the companies announced today. Details of the investment were not disclosed, but JSSI CEO Neil Book said it will fund the company’s next phase of expansion.
“As we start this next chapter, Genstar is an ideal partner, with a tremendous track record, to support our ambitious growth plan,” said Book, whose family is among JSSI investors that also includes private equity firm GTCR. “My team and I are appreciative for the ongoing collaboration with GTCR, which has been a fun and rewarding partnership since 2020,” he added.
San Francisco company Genstar focuses its investments on financial services, health care, software, and industrials. Genstar partners Eli Weiss, Ryan Clark, and Rob Clark said their firm has a rich history of investing across software, insurance, and industrial distribution businesses and will bring that perspective to help JSSI. They added that JSSI is well positioned to further its position in the private aircraft maintenance sector based on its 30-year history in the industry.
This investment follows Chicago-based JSSI’s acquisitions last year of aircraft maintenance-tracking companies Traxxall and SierraTrax, and prior to that, GTCR’s investment in 2020.
Aviation Performance Solutions (APS) will host its annual Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) safety summit next week for professional pilots. The theme of this year’s event—to be held on Wednesday—is “Transforming Low Experience to High Aviation Safety.”
"The 2022 UPRT Safety Summit for Professional Pilots Worldwide addresses growing challenges associated with the ever-lowering pilot experience levels in commercial flight operations as the industry faces an unprecedented global pilot shortage,” said APS CEO Paul “B.J.” Ransbury. “This event, presented by experts that know, will be of immense value to pilots, flight department leaders, aviation consultants, and anyone involved with professional flight operations."
APS, which specializes in UPRT programs, will facilitate the event live on social media. Topics include a keynote session titled “Tomorrow's Professional Pilots Require Upset Training Fluency” by Danny Hull, United Airlines' senior manager of training development and support. Hull is a leader at United’s Aviate Academy in Arizona. Other speakers include USAIG director of aviation safety programs Paul Ratte and Commscope director of aviation and former NBAA Safety Committee chair Jeff Wofford, in addition to several other industry UPRT experts.
The event will also be recorded and made available to registered attendees.
The Department of Transportation Inspector General (IG) office has launched another audit of the FAA’s certification process of the Boeing 737 Max. This latest investigation will examine the agency's oversight of the aircraft's maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) and the angle-of-attack disagree indicator. This is the fourth investigation since 2019 into the FAA's initial certification of the aircraft in 2017.
MCAS was cited by safety investigators as a contributing factor in two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. In addition, in August 2017 Boeing conceded that not all 737 Max aircraft were equipped with an AOA disagree alert despite intending for it to be standard for the fleet. The FAA recertified the Boeing 737 Max 8 in late 2020 after the aircraft was grounded for nearly two years.
"During the original certification process from 2012 to 2017, Boeing included limited information on MCAS in its initial briefings to the FAA and presented it as a modification to the existing speed trim system that would only activate under certain limited conditions,” the IG said. "Our objectives will be to evaluate FAA’s compliance with applicable statutes, regulations, and policies in overseeing Boeing actions for (1) the inoperability of the AOA disagree alert on the majority of the Max fleet in 2019 and (2) the inclusion of MCAS as part of the speed trim in the 737 Max design."
Hourly, on-demand charter rates eased for flights on turboprops and light and midsize jets while they rose for super-midsize and heavy jets last month, according to private aviation charter marketplace JetASAP.
Based on 1,965 hourly rate quotes through JetASAP’s app, rates on turboprops dropped 10 percent month-over-month in October, to $3,818, while light jets saw a 6 percent decrease, to $7,035, and midsize jets a 3 percent decline, to $7,792, in the same period. But heavy jet hourly charter rates increased 16 percent, to $13,960, while those for super-midsize jets moved slightly higher by 0.6 percent, to $10,787.
The overall rate was up just 1 percent compared with an 11 percent hourly rate decrease over the summer.
According to the company, the JetASAP app connects flyers to more than 700 charter operators. JetASAP added that it expects a busy holiday season for air charter.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) presented its annual Industry Excellence Awards during a luncheon at the recent Aviation Business Conference in Miami.
Craig Sincock, owner, president, and CEO of Avfuel was presented with the association’s highest honor, the William A. “Bill” Ong Memorial Award for his contributions to the aviation industry. “The passion that led Sincock, an aviator himself, to purchase Avfuel is evident through his continued devotion to the company’s success, as well as through his advocacy efforts serving on several key stakeholder boards in the industry,” said NATA president and CEO Curt Castagna.
The NATA Distinguished Service Award was presented to Bill Bohlke, the long-time head of St. Croix-based multi-generational FBO, maintenance, and charter provider Bohlke International Aviation.
Other recipients included John Black, executive director of the Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport Authority who was presented with the Airport Executive Partnership Award; Jeffrey Wolf, chief flight instructor with Paragon Flight Training, who accepted the Excellence in Pilot Training Award; and Carla Keeney, Jet Access Indianapolis customer service manager, who was given the NATA FBO Customer Service Representative Award. In addition, Shae Helling, Bismarck Jet Center’s director of FBO operations and marketing, received the NATA Future Leader Award, while David Hernandez, the line service manager at Mayo Aviation, was honored with the Safety 1st Certified Line Service Professional Award.
Photo of the Week
Just a quick head’s up. Corporate pilot Luke Egan snapped this image while his Gulfstream G650 was on approach into Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Airport (KJAC). “The HUD and SVS really capture the magnificence of the Grand Teton,” he said. We agree! Thanks for sharing, Luke.
Keep them coming. If you’d like to submit an entry for Photo of the Week, email a high-resolution horizontal image (at least 2000 x 1200 pixels), along with your name, contact information, social media names, and info about it (including brief description, location, etc.) to photos@ainonline.com. Tail numbers can be removed upon request. Those submitting photos give AIN implied consent to publish them in its publications and social media channels.
AINalerts News Tips/Feedback: News tips may be sent anonymously, but feedback must include name and contact info (we will withhold name on request). We reserve the right to edit correspondence for length, clarity and grammar. Send feedback or news tips to AINalerts editor Chad Trautvetter.
AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
