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NTSB to Participate in Annual Aviation Event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

NTSB to Participate in Annual Aviation Event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
July 22, 2014
WASHINGTON – National Transportation Safety Board Member Earl Weener and NTSB senior aviation investigators will participate at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2014, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual fly-in convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on July 28 – August 3.

General aviation accidents account for the majority of aviation-related deaths in the United States and continue to be a safety priority for the NTSB. General aviation safety has been an issue area on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List since 2011, and numerous safety recommendations have been issued to address our safety concerns.

During the week-long event, Member Weener and NTSB staff will conduct presentations on accident case studies and lessons learned and various safety issues, including aeronautical decision-making and weather hazards for GA pilots, which is currently on the Most Wanted List. They will also meet with members of the public who visit the NTSB exhibit in the Federal Pavilion and will be featured on EAA Radio daily.

“Participation at the Oshkosh airshow has become a staple for NTSB investigators and staff,” said NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “This annual event provides us with an extraordinary opportunity to meet face-to-face with a large number of general aviation pilots and share lessons learned from our investigations with the aviation community.”

In an effort to raise additional awareness, the NTSB has issued numerous safety alerts aimed at reducing accidents. Theses safety alerts include:

• Thunderstorm Encounters;
• In-Cockpit Next Generation Radar Mosaic Imagery;
• Prevent Aerodynamic Stalls at Low Altitude ;
• Reduce Visual References Require Vigilance; and
• Is Your Aircraft Talking to You? Listen!

Media requests for interviews with Member Weener or any of the NTSB staff should be emailed to Keith Holloway, NTSB Public Affairs Officer.


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Putting Aviation Out of Biz, Breaking the Camels Back: Walk Softly and Build a Massive Deficit

We don’t usually talk about politics here, but it is hard to completely ignore Obama’s proposal to eliminate a tax break for business-jet owners. (The proposal extends the tax-depreciation schedule for business jets to seven years from five years.) I am not anti-Obama, at all, but it is what it is.

We believe the consequences of that tax break will not make much money for the government, but it will have repercussions in the aviation industry. Catch phrases have cropped up, terms like “demonizing private aviation” and “engaging in class warfare.” Obama does not seem to be aware of that (to use an old catch-phrase) “trickle down” economics. The tax break is incentive for corporations and private owners to purchase new jets. The proposal does attack aviation, which * employs 1.2 million people and generate $150 billion in economic activity.

How can a depreciation allowance for private jets prevent the rich from paying enough taxes to finance government child safety programs? Where is the logic behind the theory? It is obvious if you look at the results: what is actually involved is a politician courting public opinion, because the majority of Americans can’t afford jets, and will gladly agree to a tax on rich folks, i.e. them. Most Americans aren’t going to take a long view of how a tax will affect an entire industry. They’re just relieved that there are taxes coming out of some other guy’s pocket.

But the tax will affect an entire industry, those 1.2 million people working in aviation, building planes and buying them. Those unbought private jets don’t get built, don’t get sold, don’t get flown, don’t get maintained, don’t get stored in aviation hangers. That means a lot of jobs for a lot of pilots, a lot of small charter lines, mechanics and support crews.

With tax proposals like this one, one wonders if Obama’s long range goal is gunning for the aviation industry to look like Detroit after the exodus of the automotive industry.

How can business owners stay in business and create jobs when the government is steadily chipping away at the foundations of business?

*Statistics according to General Aviation Manufacturers The General Aviation Manufacturers Association represents over 65 of the world’s leading manufacturers of fixed-wing general aviation airplanes, engines, avionics, and components. In addition to building nearly all of the general aviation airplanes flying today, GAMA member companies also operate aircraft fleets, airport fixed-based operations, pilot training, and maintenance facilities worldwide


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Brazil Air Chaos

Stranding passengers got a taste of Brazil.

Political cronyism to chronic underfunding in Brazil’s aviation system are considered as possible contributors to two major air disasters in less than a year––followed by a major radar failure over the Amazon.

For about three hours, air traffic controllers closed Brazilian air space.

An Airbus 320 operated by TAM Airlines crashed Tuesday at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, killing all 187 people aboard and at least four on the ground. Jorge Botelho, president of Brazil’s union representing air traffic controllers, on Sunday ridiculed the possibility of sabotage. He said that the government wants to blame the controllers to avoid responsibility for systemic air safety problems.

Brazilians have been suffering flight delays and cancellations since September, when a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 collided with an executive jet and crashed in the Amazon rainforest killing 154 people. Four air traffic controllers and the executive jet’s two American pilots, face criminal charges.

The accident touched off months of delays and canceled flights, as air traffic controllers held work slowdowns and stoppages to protest precarious conditions.

Brazil’s airports are seriously underfunded and stretched to the limit.

“There have been warnings, warnings, warnings about the need to do something about the communications systems, about the runways,” Brazilian aviation consultant Elias Gedeon said. “The government didn’t understand the importance of this. This is very bad for Brazil.”

Problems stretch back at least five years. Spending on aviation safety has averaged about $250 million a year since Silva took office in 2003, half of what was spent in 2002.

That the government has doled out top aviation posts to political appointees with little or no expertise in the field. The government spent millions to renovate the terminal at Congonhas airport. Tarmac improvements were saved for last and the runway was reopened before the renovation could be completed.

On Sunday, Amaury Guedes, a 72-year-old retired flight attendant, summed up the feelings of many Brazilians. “It was a tragedy waiting to happen because the planes kept growing, the wide bodies, and the runways were never extended to handle them,” Guedes said. “There are just too many passengers, and infrastructure hasn’t kept up with the growth.”

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