Small Jet Charter

For about five years, the FAA has limped along with 23 short-term funding appropriations from Congress, but on Tuesday, congressional leaders said they have reached agreement on a four-year, $63 billion funding bill. The legislation has not yet been released, but according to USA Today, the funding will accelerate the creation of the NextGen air traffic control system. A new post will be created — the Chief NextGen Officer — to oversee the effort, and a schedule for progress will be set. The bill also assures funding subsidies for rural airports at $190 million a year. New labor rules will make it harder for airline employees to unionize, requiring half the workers in a bargaining unit to petition for a vote to certify a union, an increase from the current 35 percent.

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In North Platte, Nebraska, they celebrate NEBRASKAland Days in June. Driggs, Idaho, pulls out all the stops for Summerfest in July. In Johnstown, Pennsylvania, they mark the joys of summer with Thunder in the Valley, and Salley, South Carolina, hosts the Chitlin Strut in November.
The point is this: Regardless of where you live, there is a festival, a carnival, a fair, or a public gathering of some sort that draws a crowd. That explosion of people represents an opportunity for those who know how to make the most of it. For those who don’t, it’s nothing but a traffic jam, a long line at the grocery store, or a headache that they wish they could avoid. Pity those people. They just don’t know a good thing when they see it. Continue Reading »

===> Posted on January 31st, 2012 by Jamie Beckett. No comments. © GAN 2012.

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All applications for medical and student pilot certificates will be filed electronically instead of on paper by October 1, the FAA said last week. In the January issue of the the FAA Medical Bulletin (PDF), Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Fred Tilton said the paper system “allows for too many errors, leads to storage problems, and creates security risks.” It also costs the FAA $150,000 every year to print, store, distribute, and mail Form 8500-8. The electronic MedXPress system will eliminate those problems and expenses, and will make it possible to offer new services — for example, Tilton said, pilots and AMEs will be able to track the status of applications online. EAA and AOPA raised concerns about the change.

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