Greg Napert and I recently flew down to West Star Aviation in East Alton, IL to celebrate the grand opening of Hangar 67 — West Star’s newest hangar. The hangar has been specifically designed to accommodate Gulfstream aircraft, and the company kept mechanics in mind throughout the design/build process.
Greg Napert and I will be traveling to East Alton, IL on August 27th to help celebrate the grand opening of West Star Aviation’s Hangar 67. Weather permitting, we’ll be taking an air trip in Greg’s Sundowner from Fort Atkinson International Airport to East Alton. If Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, we’ll be taking a road trip to East Alton.
West Star has been a long-time partner with D.O.M. magazine since our launch in 2008, and Greg and I are looking forward to the event.
EAA AirVenture took place last week. As we walked around the show, it was clear that there plenty of attendees. EAA sent out a press release yesterday announcing that this year's AirVenture broke some previously-set records. Here are some of the stats:
Attendance: Approximately 686,000 – Highest total on record! (Previous: 677,000 - 2023).
EAA AirVenture 2024 is almost upon us. From July 22-28, hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts will gather in Oshkosh, WI for EAA’s annual gathering. According to EAA, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 set records, with 677,000 attendees, more than 10,000 aircraft, and 848 commercial exhibits participating in last year’s celebration!
If you’ve never been to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’ve been to 21 AirVenture shows. Every year brings something new and exciting for the many visitors that flock to Oshkosh for this annual aviation event.
Approvals for drone deliveries and personal flying vehicles are escalating at an amazing pace.
Earlier this month, the FAA approved Amazon Prime Air to operate its delivery drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Amazon is now ramping up its drone delivery infrastructure starting in College Station, TX where it has been testing drone delivery for quite some time.
I just read "This CEO learned 3 essential lessons about being a great leader from one trip" on FastCompany.com. Author Barry Rosen tells the story of taking a road trip to meet with all 25 of his remote employees who worked from their home offices throughout the United States. He planned to spend at least eight hours with each employee. Half the time would be social — doing something fun and interesting together.
The US government recently saved us from Chinese meddling. You’ve probably already heard of the ban of TikTok. Citing security concerns, President Biden signed into law the ban in conjunction with $95.3 billion aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The “Protecting Americans’ Data From Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024” mandates that Chinese-owned ByteDance sell its interest in TikTok or face a US ban of the app within 270 days (January 15, 2025).
Wow! I feel safer already.
In a blog post last month, I wrote about repair station drug and alcohol testing. An argument for requiring foreign-based repair stations to implement drug and alcohol testing programs is safety. For decades, aircraft maintenance unions have been critical on the safety of sending aircraft to foreign-based repair stations because of "sub-standard" maintenance practices.
Ken MacTiernan, director of the Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Association (AMTA), founder of the Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC), and longtime friend shared the following news, and I wanted to share it with our readers in case you may not be on his mailing list:
Greetings everyone.
Disappointment? Yes! Frustration? Yes! Disrespected? Yes! Confused? Yes!
I recently learned of the passing of Richard McSpadden, AOPAs Air Safety Institute’s leader and past Thunderbird Commander. McSpadden’s popularity was nearly unparalleled as he hosted several podcasts and did public speaking and presentations on a regular basis. The pilot community has celebrated his life after the tragic accident that took his life — and rightly so!
For the first time since March 2022, we have Senate-confirmed FAA Administrator. On October 24, the U.S. Senate voted 98-0 to Confirm Mike Whittaker as the next FAA Administrator. He will serve a five-year term.
In response to Whittaker’s confirmation, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg released the following statement:
Allow me to share a story seven and a half years in the making of the failure of the NTSB to provide due process for an aircraft mechanic.
This story involves Anthony Jack Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins served in the U.S. Air Force from 1969 to 1989 as an aircraft mechanic, flight engineer, and line chief on C-130s. After his military career, he worked as an aircraft mechanic and inspector, holding an A&P and Inspection Authorization until 2016 when this matter started.
The 2023 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) is just around the corner. It will be taking place October 17-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
In my opinion, NBAA-BACE is the second-best opportunity for maintenance managers and aviation maintenance professionals to gain the knowledge necessary for career advancement. (The best conference is NBAA’s Maintenance Conference, which offers three days of maintenance- and management-focused sessions!)
D.O.M. magazine is the premier magazine for aviation maintenance management professionals. Its management-focused editorial provides information maintenance managers need and want including business best practices, professional development, regulatory, quality management, legal issues and more. The digital version of D.O.M. magazine is available for free on all devices (iOS, Android, and Amazon Kindle).
Joe Escobar (jescobar@dommagazine.com)
Editorial Director
920-747-0195
Greg Napert (gnapert@dommagazine.com)
Publisher, Sales & Marketing
608-436-3376
Bob Graf (bgraf@dommagazine.com)
Director of Business, Sales & Marketing
608-774-4901