OKAero.com - News

Home » News

News

State Airports May Benefit from Massive Economic Stimulus Package

Capital projects planned for some of Oklahoma’s public airports may be placed on a fast track to completion if Congress and
President-elect Barack Obama approve a massive economic stimulus package, state aviation officials announced. Officials with the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission said that if the stimulus package is approved as expected, the state could receive an additional $30-$40 million in federal funds in fiscal year 2009 and 2010 for Oklahoma’s general aviation airports.

New $5,000 Tax Credit A Boost For Engineers And The Companies Trying To Recruit Them

A new law establishing tax credits for engineers going to work for Oklahoma companies as well as the companies that hire them is helping businesses take off.

The Aerospace Industry Engineer Work Force Bill, signed in 2008 by Gov. Brad Henry, is a useful recruitment tool for companies luring engineers from other states as well as home-grown engineers that are recent college graduates.

ARINC Technical Services Set to Provide Cost-Competitive Technical Support for Customers Worldwide

In a continuing effort to enhance ARINC’s value proposition and to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to their corporate motto of “Dedication Beyond Expectation”, ARINC OKC has added a new capability. Please access the link below to learn more. http://www.arinc.com/news/2009/02-18-09_arinc_technical_services.html

State Expands Quality Jobs Laws - Good News for Aerospace Companies

Oklahoma’s ability to attract high-quality jobs got a boost with the governor’s recent signing of bills that help expand the state’s Quality Jobs Program.

Summer Newsletter 2009 - Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission "OK Open Skies"

The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission Summer 2009 issue of “OK Open Skies.” This newsletter provides you with recent news and information about the state’s aviation and aerospace industry. To access the newsletter, click on the following link:

http://www.ok.gov/OAC/documents/OK-open-skiesSummer09.pdf

10-8-2009 News Stories

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Tulsa World editorial regarding FlightSafety International’s request to the City of Tulsa on Tuesday for a $1 per-year lease and $6.6 million toward construction of a new $30 million facility.

- Brian Busey, vice president of human resources and operations of the Delaware Resource Group of Oklahoma, has been recognized by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development as one of its 40 Under 40.

- Some of the legendary planes of World War II will take to the skies Saturday and Sunday for the first WWII Warbirds Weekend put on by the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

- The FAA’s operational test of a new NextGen computer system for air traffic control ran into problems last weekend at Salt Lake Center and had to be shut down—but the problem could have been averted, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, if the FAA had included NATCA in its planning process

- New York Times editorial urging the Obama Administration and Congress to have a fair and open bidding process which will result in the best tanker for the best price to meet the Air Force’s needs.

- A senior Senate staffer believes there is still a very good chance that the FAA reauthorization bill can be finished this year, despite a congressional calendar crowded by the health care debate and other issues.

- Business aircraft MRO shops are adjusting to a lackluster refurbishment and modification market, reeling from the impact of tight budgets, cutbacks in flying and a huge inventory of unsold pre-owned aircraft. (Lengthy article from Overhaul & Maintenance magazine)

10-9-2009 News Stories

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Lengthy airline delays are twice as common now as in 1990 and will get worse as the economy recovers, according to a Brookings Institution report released Thursday.

- According to a monthly business jet report issued by JPMorgan this week, the pre-owned market recovery continues though new jet demand is expected to lag.

- FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt announced Thursday that serious runway incursions were down 50 percent for the most recent 12-month period compared to the previous year.

- Time magazine article devoted to NextGen radar and its possible impact on greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft.

10-20-2009 News Stories

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Construction crews are working to add electricity, plumbing and taxiways to 40 acres on the northeast side of Wiley Post Airport, at North Rockwell Avenue and West Wilshire Boulevard. The lots will be leased to people or businesses to build private hangars.

- Questions remain in the chain of events leading up to a helicopter crash early Wednesday near Tahlequah that claimed the lives of two people.

- Meeting for the first time since the legislative session ended in May, House Republicans were told Monday nothing indicates state revenue will improve in the near future.

- State Rep. Kris Steele was selected Monday to succeed House Speaker Chris Benge if Republicans hold on to the House majority after the fall 2010 election cycle.

- Cessna CEO Jack Pelton surprised a packed media conference Monday during the NBAA conference by saying he prefers to consider the Columbus project “suspended” even though it’s been formally cancelled by parent company Textron.

- Two news articles, including a news story from a Wichita, Kansas, television station, about Wichita’s and general aviation’s struggling aviation industry with comments from Hawker Beechcraft Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture.

10-21-2009 News Articles

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

-Op-ed by Ben Robinson extolling many of the positive qualities of the Oklahoma School of Scince and Math.

-Boeing Co. may have to delay deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner an additional six months because of the magnitude of the redesigns needed on the plane.

-During the opening general session of the National Business Aviation Association convention on Tuesday, NBAA President Ed Bolen and General Aviation Manufacturers Association President Pete Bunce gave an assessment of the battles fought in the past nine months and changing conditions that they hope will stem the damage and start healing the business aviation industry.

-House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and Ranking Member Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) sent a letter today with 118 signatures of bipartisan members of the House of Representatives to President Obama urging him to not ask for aviation user fees as he submits the budget for 2011.

-During yesterday’s opening session of the National Business Aviation Association convention, NBAA President Ed Bolen said that there is strong opposition to the administration’s apparent preference for user fees to fund the FAA.

10-27-2009 News Articles

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Acorn Growth Cos. and PL Studios were honored by the Oklahoma Venture Fund as “Venture of the Year” at the conclusion of the group’s Bricktown Capital Conference in Oklahoma City.

- L-3 Link Simulation & Training has been awarded a one-year $14.4 million contract option from the U.S. Air Force to provide continued support of the service’s E-3 Contractor Training and Simulation Services program.

- Question & Answer session with OSU’s Stephen McKeever regarding the university’s technology transfer program.

- Op-Ed by Phil Busey Sr., urging the state to diversify its economy more.

- Oklahoma editorial lauding Business Week magazine for ranking OKC and Tulsa in a survey of its 40 strongest metropolitan areas.

- Oklahoma City and Tulsa recently were ranked among the best places to launch a new business by editors at Fortune Small Business magazine in conjunction with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

- Tulsa could be $646 million richer if just 1 percent more of its residents had bachelor’s degrees, according to CEOs for Cities, a national education and business organization.

- Oklahoman editorial responding to recent editorial from MIT President Susan Hockfield in The Wall Street Journal about our nation’s decline in educational attainment.

- Oklahoma Federation of Republican Women is sponsoring an essay contest for seventh- and eighth-graders with the topic “Oklahoma’s Role in Aerospace - Past & Future.”

- Boeing Co. wants a no-strike agreement from machinists before it puts a second assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner in the Puget Sound region where it assembles commercial jets. Without a deal, Boeing will likely set up a new line near a factory it bought in South Carolina.

- The governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana announced the launch of The Aerospace Alliance Monday, which they hope will establish the Gulf Coast and surrounding region as a world class aerospace, space and aviation corridor.

- The battle over the Air Force’s latest attempt to award a contract for aerial refueling tankers is heating up, with the main competitors and their supporters in Congress calling for changes in the way the bids will be evaluated. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who supports Northrop Grumman and a European plane maker, delivered the latest salvo on Monday, saying the proposed bid process was “fundamentally flawed.”

- Despite a down market for business jets, Wichita planemakers said they found a lot of interest in their aircraft during last week’s National Business Aviation Association show in Orlando, Fla.

12-11-09 News Articles

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- The Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust completed a $129-million bond issue Thursday that effectively reorganized its existing debt while providing $30 million for needed construction.

- With its approval of the $2.3 million purchase of Tulsair Beechcraft’s Hangars 8 and 10 at Tulsa International Airport on Thursday, the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust laid the foundation for the reconstruction of the main north-south runway.

- The U.S. Air Force has acknowledged that it is developing and testing a new, unmanned aerial vehicle - a drone with a sleek, stealth design that will be deployed for military reconnaissance and surveillance missions.
(FEATURES COMMENTS FROM OSU ASSOC. PROFESSOR JAMEY JACOB)

- Very long endurance and the ability to hunt enemy air defenses are emerging areas of interest in EADS’s long-term unmanned air vehicle road map, although the company’s near-term focus remains on securing a future for the medium-altitude Talarion project.

- While some economists say Oklahoma could begin to recover from the recession as early as next spring, a new report from the National Conference of State Legislators says many states’ budgets will remain rocky for a long time.

- Fluctuating funding for NASA could drive away highly specialized workers at a time when fewer students want to embark on careers in science, space industry officials warned a House panel Thursday.

- After more than two years of delays, Boeing Co. said Thursday that it plans to fly its new 787 Dreamliner for the first time as early as next Tuesday. The exact timing of the much-anticipated first flight depends on external factors, such as the weather at the airport near Seattle, the company said in a statement.

1-4-2010 News Articles

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- VALCO Manufacturing of Duncan has been named the small business of the year by Lockheed Martin.

- As a new decade begins, Oklahomans are toiling at jobs that weren’t around 10 years ago, and adapting to modifications to others that have evolved significantly along with advances in technology.

- Oklahoman op-ed about the state’s goal of diversifying it’s economy.

- Whoever is elected governor this year will have to deal with leading Oklahoma out of its budget woes.

- Three of the four gubernatorial candidates said new jobs are needed to boost state revenues while the fourth contender believes state spending should be cut.

- Journal Record article about how the proclamation that Oklahoma’s economy was recession proof is a myth, with several comments from former state legislator Cal Hobson.

- With Oklahoma facing a $1.3 billion budget gap, state agency heads are preparing themselves for the worst - operating their agencies with fewer people.

- Two more articles from USA Today about how the federal government is wasting taxpayers’ money by awarding federal grants to small airports.

- Aviation attorney Alan Armstrong warns that the Transportation Security Administration’s ambitions still represent a “substantial threat” to the aviation community.

- The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday said it is stepping up oversight of American Airlines in the wake of three botched landings by the carrier over an 11-day period.

1-12-2010 News Articles

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- The end of the state’s revenue downturn is not yet in sight, state Treasurer Scott Meacham said today.

- One group is asking state lawmakers to sign a no-tax pledge. The other group says don’t rule out tax increases and wants legislators to take another look at repealing some state tax exemptions.The problem: a $1.3 billion budget hole.

- A proposal by state Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, could change the way the state handles gross production revenue and could eliminate some of the peaks and valleys caused by fluctuating oil and gas prices. The proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 52 would change the state’s constitution and limit the amount of gross production revenue available to be used in any given year.

- Oklahoma’s economy, which staved off the recession longer than the national economy, is recovering a bit slower than the nation as a whole, Fed economist Chad Wilkerson said Monday.

- Discussions about the Army’s use of unmanned systems in the combat theater are likely to focus on bomb-detecting robots and ground vehicles able to navigate through hazardous terrain. Chances are the discussion won’t immediately go to one of the fast-growing fields in the Army:
unmanned aircraft systems.

- Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have been using a fleet of Manta autonomous UAVs to track pollution and atmospheric data over the skies of Southern California. The California AUAV Air Pollution Profiling Study (CAPPS) program is the latest in a series of science missions using UAS around the world.

- Op-ed/recap by General Aviatrion News explaining the reasons why President Obama has had a difficult time getting his choice for the director of the Transportation Secutity Administration, Errol Southers, confirmed by the Senate.

- USA Today article suggesting that people may choose not to fly commercially as much in the future considering the latest security issues and hassles.

- The head of Boeing’s defense business on Monday called for better communication between the Pentagon and defense companies in the face of challenging times awaiting the industry.

- The U.S. business aircraft fleet was involved in 45 percent fewer accidents in 2009, marking one of the safest years yet for business aircraft operators.

2-17-2010 News Articles

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Oklahoman article about Oklahoma City Community College’s new pre-engineering program, which also mentions the Aerospace Industry Engineer Workforce Bill and available tax credits.

- Winter weather continued to disrupt air travel in January, resulting in a drop in passenger travel from both of Oklahoma’s major commercial airports, airport officials said.

- Gov. Brad Henry said he doesn’t expect the small upward revision in state revenue certified Tuesday by the state Equalization Board to have much of an impact on budget talks with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

- Sen. Tom Adelson said Tuesday that the state could save $259 million by eliminating some tax credits and exemptions.

- The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) called attention to policies that will be instrumental in ensuring a robust recovery of the general aviation manufacturing industry during its Annual Industry Review and Market Outlook Briefing today.

- Not that it comes as any huge surprise, but GAMA made it official Tuesday. They announced that 2009 worldwide shipments and billings of general aviation airplanes were down in all categories.

- It’s no secret that 2009 was a tough year for the U.S. economy, and year-end reports released last week by Beechcraft and Cessna show how hard it’s been for general aviation.

- Business aviation analyst Brian Foley has taken a cue from the judging protocols of some sports competitions in determining that, overall, business jet sales will grow at 2.7 percent over the next 10 years.

02/18/2010 Quick News Stories

- Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is changing the way commercial aircraft are
designed, built, flown and maintained, and the jet will provide a unique
experience for passengers, a Boeing Co. engineer said Wednesday in Tulsa.

- The union representing ground workers at American Airlines wants to take
a big step toward a strike against the nation’s second-largest airline. The
Transport Workers Union said Wednesday it will ask federal mediators to let
the employees walk away from contract talks if there is no deal by March 8.

- On the same night pay cuts and furloughs were announced for city
employees, Shawnee’s commissioners scraped their sagging budget Tuesday and
came up with almost $103,000 to build a new terminal at the city’s airport.

- PepsiCo, Inc. will shut down its two-year-old Gatorade Plant in Pryor and
lay off about 100 workers, company officials announced Thursday. The
company has already stopped regular production work at the plant and plans
to wind down operations during the next three months.

- Officials with Halliburton Co. say about 150 jobs at the Halliburton
Technology Center in Duncan will be moved to Houston during the next two
years as part of a plan to consolidate operations at company headquarters
in Houston.

- The U.S. military hires contractors to operate certain unmanned aerial
vehicles in combat zones. Federal agencies might one day do the same here
in the United States. Insiders call it “fee for service.” It would allow
public-safety officials to rent surveillance UAVs during emergencies and
scientists to lease them for research missions.

- North Carolina is shaping up as a battleground in one of the most bitter
military contracting showdowns in decades. The fight pits Northrop Grumman
and Boeing Corp. over a $40 billion contract to build the next generation
of flying tankers that supply fuel to American fighter jets. A Northrop
Grumman team swooped into the state Wednesday to tout the potential of
1,500 jobs there if it wins the Pentagon bid.

- The Defense Department’s top weapons buyer said Wednesday that the pace
of cutting costly or badly performing weapons contracts should slow as the
Obama administration has largely already targeted problematic and
unnecessary programs.

2010 State Aviation Art Contest Winners Announced on March 3

2010 State Aviation Art Contest Winners Announced Artists To Be Recognized During Ceremony at State Capitol March 3

News Events 02/19/2010

- Gov. Brad Henry and legislative leaders forged a fix for this year’s
budget crisis on Thursday, using federal stimulus funds and money from a
state savings account to prevent trooper furloughs and ease cuts for
education, health care and prisons.

- By 12:45 p.m. Thursday, student teams were scrambling to tweak and change
their boat models in hopes of winning the Engineering Design Challenge, a
one-day competition at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa.

- A federal investigation has found increasing incidents of aircraft
maintenance deficiencies at American Airlines and ineffective and
inconsistent oversight of its maintenance programs by the Federal Aviation
Administration.

- USA TODAY article detailing yesterday’s plane crash into the IRS building
in Austin, Texas, with some comments regarding general aviation aircraft
being used in a terrorism act.

- Tulsa pilots say they are frustrated by 53-year-old Joseph Andrew Stack’s
actions in using an airplane in his apparent mission of destruction
Thursday, crashing into an Austin federal building. They hope Thursday’s
crash doesn’t create a black eye for private aviators.

- Editorial from Craig Fuller, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association, concerning yesterday’s suicide plane crash in Austin, Texas.

- The first Citation CJ4 built on Cessna’s new assembly line in Wichita
made its first flight Feb. 17.

- The head of the National Aircraft Resale Association today challenged the
GAMA forecast that the used aircraft market would take two more years to
fully recover.

- The F-35 Lightning II fighter jet program might breach the Nunn-McCurdy
limits on unit cost growth, said U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz, the
service’s chief of staff.

News Events 2/22/2010

- A semiannual report issued by the Tax Commission lists 460 separate
exemptions, credits and deductions that total an estimated $5.5 billion.
The real number is likely even higher, because dozens of these exemptions
are never reported to the commission.

- Oklahoman editorial regarding the discussion at the state Capitol
centering on state tax credits and other incentives given to businesses and
other entities.

- Tulsa World editorial that suggests the elimination of tax credits and
exemptions could mean consumers paying more for products and services,
which is really a tax increase.

- The Ninth Annual Oklahoma Aerospace Summit and Expo will be held at the
Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City from June 1 through June 4. The 2010
aerospace summit will feature William C. Greenwalt, director of federal
acquisition policy for Lockheed Martin Corp.; Rick Stephens, senior vice
president of Boeing Co.; Ed Bolen, CEO of the National Business Aircraft
Association; and Craig Fuller, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association.

- Tulsa World article that examins the history of the MD-80 at American
Airlines and its reliability over the years.

- Dr. Dennis Canfield, a forensic scientist, researcher and administrator
for the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City, has been
recognized by the National Safety Council with the Robert F. Borkenstein
Award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions
to traffic and transportation safety in the field of drug and alcohol
research.

- Four articles, including a couple of editorials, surrounding last week’s
crash of a general aviation aircraft into an Austin building housing the
IRS office and possible security ramifications for GA resulting from the
incident.

- Aviation companies plan to hire staff in 2010, according to a recent
survey by JSfirm, an online employment site for the aviation industry.

- The National Air Transportation Association formally submitted comments
to TSA Friday on the agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking, Aircraft
Repair Station Security.

- Personnel from the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System program team and
industry partner Northrop Grumman Corporation are underway with USS Abraham
Lincoln to test the integration of existing ship systems with new systems
that will support the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration. The
effort will reduce program risk and is one of many steps toward the X-47B’s
first carrier “trap.”

- Northrop Grumman Corporation successfully demonstrated that its MQ-8B
Vertical Unmanned Aerial System can resupply U.S. or coalition troops
deployed on a combat mission.

- Boeing Co. said last Friday that it sent layoff notices to more than
1,000 people, most of them technology workers in Washington state and
California.

- The head of Boeing’s Commercial Airline Division says the U.S.
plane-maker will overtake rival Airbus to be the world’s largest civilian
aircraft manufacturer within 4 years.

NEWS EVENTS 2/23/2010

Regional airport is well suited to needs of Edmond, Guthrie
By Patrice Douglas, Guest Editorial
The Oklahoman
2/23/2010

STEM EDUCATION

LEGO robotics puts science into play in Stillwater
BY DAVID ZIZZO, Staff Writer
The Oklahoman
2/23/2010

GENERAL AVIATION

Austin crash stirs up GA’s critics
by Charles Spence
General Aviation News
2/22/2010

Congressman Calls For Hearing Following Austin Crash
Says GA Aircraft Pose Some Risk To Federal Buildings
Aero News Network
2/23/2010

News Events 2/24/2010 Part 1

- Durant city officials broke ground Tuesday for a new terminal building at
Eaker Field airport. The project is expected to take a year to complete at
a cost of about $1.5 million. The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission
contributed a $275,000 grant and the remainder will be paid by the city.

- FlightSafety International Inc., the flight simulator manufacturer, and
the city of Broken Arrow have reached agreement on economic incentives that
will allow the New York-based technology company to expand operations in
the city.

- American Airlines, which seeks to solidify its presence in the Pacific
with a joint business agreement with Japan Airlines, hopes to widen ties
with Asia by welcoming India’s largest airline, Kingfisher Airlines, into
its oneworld global airline alliance.

- U.S. airline employment dropped to 379,100 people in December, down 3.3
percent from December 2008 and the lowest monthly total since 1993, a
federal agency says.

- Letter to the editor in the Tulsa World concerning American Airlines’s
proposal to reduce the number of licensed mechanics and replace them with
unlicensed mechanics.

- Defense contractor L-3 Communications Inc. said Tuesday that the
Transportation Security Administration gave the company a $164.7 million
contract to provide advanced imaging systems to screen passengers for
explosives and other threats at airport security checkpoints.

- Oklahoma led the rest of the states in the rate of decline in tax
collections for the last quarter of 2009, according to a report by the
Rockefeller Institute of Government. . Oklahoma’s revenue collections
dropped 24 percent for the last three months of 2009 compared with the same
period a year earlier.

- Stashing away energy tax collections when prices are high into a reserve
fund for use when oil and natural gas prices plummet would help get the
state through difficult economic times, legislators said Tuesday.

News Events 2/24/2010 Part 2

- Guest editorial from the Huffington Post which lauds general aviation and
its contributions to society, especially in the aftermath of last week’s
suicide plane crash into the Austin IRS offices.

- Happy days are not quite here again in the business aviation industry,
but at least there are some breaks in the clouds. Gingerly, some business
travelers are venturing back into private aircraft after the battered
economy - and a public outcry against that perk of fat cats, the corporate
jet - walloped the GA industry starting in 2008.

- A brief article from AVweb describing the current state of helicopter
sales and the future outlook.

- Boeing Co. says one of its new 787s made an unplanned landing because an
engine lost thrust unexpectedly.

- Officials from Mobile, Ala., arrived in Washington, D.C., Tuesday to
press for congressional support for a $35 billion dual tanker award split
between Northrop Grumman and Boeing.

- The Pentagon’s new industrial policy director intends to recast the
relationship between the Defense Dept. and industry to gain a better
understanding of contractors and suppliers at all levels. Meanwhile,
defense officials are complaining about the quality of work from
contractors just as the Pentagon is trying to revive a dormant dialogue
with top CEOs over how to sustain the U.S. industrial base.

Tuesday's Airport Terminal Groundbreaking Ceremony

Airport terminal construction to begin
by JAMIE CARRICK, Staff writer
Durant Daily Democrat
2/24/2010

Construction for a new approximately 8,000 square-foot airport terminal
building at Eaker Field can now officially begin.

Durant officials and community members celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony
inside the airport’s hangar Tuesday afternoon.

The project is under Mid-Plains Construction, Inc., for the amount of
$1,384,820, which includes $11,820 to place seven high definition
televisions inside the new terminal.

News Events 02/25/2010

- The House Appropriations and Budget Committee approved House Bill 3035,
by 15-1, to serve as a vehicle to target agencies that duplicate services.
It now goes to the full House. House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, said
it’s hoped the measure eventually will include several agencies that can be
combined to remove overhead and administrative costs without affecting
services.

- Op-ed from Enid News & Eagle regarding Enid and about six other cities in
Oklahoma that have banded together to form the Oklahoma Mid-Size Cities
Coalition, a group of cities dedicated to focusing on mid-size city issues
and opportunities at the state Capitol.

- Executives of FlightSafety International Inc. and the city of Broken
Arrow on Wednesday made official a long-term collaboration to construct a
$40 million, 370,000-square-foot plant that will create several hundred
jobs.

- Chromalloy announced today that aerospace industry veteran Dennis Miller
will lead the company’s Midwest City, Okla., gas turbine engine maintenance
and service center.

- More bad news from the coffers corner: Oklahoma tops the nation in the
decline in state revenue. And the company that misery loves to keep is a
four-state area that leads every other region in declines.

- The U.S. Department of Labor said Monday it would be granting some $7.5
million in assistance for workers laid off from the aviation and other
industries in Kansas.

- Although some of the onerous security procedures proposed for GA by the
Transportation Security Administation have originated within the agency
itself, many have come from Congress. But the National Air Transportation
Association’s Jim Coyne said that we may see less of that in the coming
months.

- The Nall Report, an annual analysis of general aviation accident data by
AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation, found an increase in accidents involving
amateur-built aircraft.

- On Wednesday, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III joined Air
Force Secretary Michael B. Donley and Ashton Carter, undersecretary of
defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, in unveiling details of
the solicitation for a new KC-X aerial tanker.

- Senate leaders said Wednesday they would bring up the long-stalled FAA
reauthorization legislation in the next five weeks.

- Editorial by Marian Blakely concerning the new Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, which is a cornerstone of the Next
Generation Air Transportation System, known as NextGen, becoming
operational in the coming days at Philadelphia International Airport.

Commentary:General Aviation: A Reminder of Vulnerability

General Aviation: A Reminder of Vulnerability By Scott Stewart STRATFOR Global Intelligence Website 2/24/2010 On Feb. 18, 2010, Joseph Andrew Stack flew his single-engine airplane into a seven-story office building in northwest Austin, Texas. The building housed an office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), along with several other tenants. According to a statement he posted to the Internet before taking off on his suicide flight, Stack intentionally targeted the IRS due to a long history of problems he had had with the agency. In the statement, Stack said he hoped that his action would cause “American zombies to wake up and revolt” against the government. Stack also expressed his hope that his message of violence would be one the government could not ignore.

Oklahoma Aerospace Announces 9th Annual Summit & Expo in OKC

June 1-4, 2010, Oklahoma City Cox Convention Center

Summit to feature high-level executives from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, NBAA and AOPA

News Events 02/26/2010 Part 1

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- The state House passed several appropriation bills Thursday designed to
balance the current 2010 fiscal year budget.

- A question & answer session in the Tulsa World with Phil Albert,
president of Pelco Structural LLC, a Claremore-based company that designs,
manufactures and delivers made-to-order pole assemblies for the utility,
traffic control, lighting and communication industries.

- Pilots and crew from Tinker Air Force Base took part in the annual AWACS
Day Thursday at Science Museum Oklahoma.

- A third airplane has joined the Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight-test
program. ZA004, the fourth flight-test airplane to be built, took off at
1143 PST local time Wednesday from Paine Field in Everett, WA.

- Boeing Co. signed an order with United Airlines for 25 Dreamliners on
Thursday and won an order from an unidentified customer for 20 single-aisle
737 jets.

- Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman say they have received the final RFP for
the Air Force KC-X tanker program, with neither company saying they are
particularly pleased with the document that was released Wednesday.

- The Air Force expects a first flight for its KC-X tanker by 2012 and
hopes to have the plane flying refueling missions by 2017, service
officials said Thursday.

- The Air Force’s budget request for fiscal 2011 provides the right balance
between supporting the war efforts and other current-day commitments while
posturing for future challenges, the top Air Force civilian and military
leaders told Congress Tuesday.

- New aviation user fees aren’t in the Obama administration’s budget, but
they still may be packaged elsewhere, AOPA’s Lorraine Howerton told AVweb
Thursday.

News Events 02/26/2010 Part 2

GA SECURITY TSA to roll Austin plane crash into terror review By Thomas Frank USA TODAY 2/26/2010 The Transportation Security Administration will review the fiery crash of a small plane into an IRS office building and use that information to shape future anti-terrorism regulations for the nation’s 220,000 private airplanes.

News Events for 3/01/2010

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Another article, this time from General Aviation News, featuring Ada,
Okla.-based General Aviation Modifications Inc. and its efforts to develop
unleaded avgas.

- In the next week, American Airlines and its three labor unions will be
squaring off in contract negotiations that could determine the shape of the
company for years to come, union and company executives say. For American,
which has lost $3.6 billion in the last two years, holding the line on
expenses is the key to its survival.

- Letter to the editor from the Tulsa World concerning maintenance on
American Airlines aircraft.

- Two people died in the crash of a small plane Sunday afternoon. The plane
crashed at 2:24 p.m. near Jones Memorial Airport just southwest of Bristow.
An eyewitness told investigators that it sounded as though the plane was
having engine trouble, Wilson said.

- Authorities have determined what type of plane crashed Sunday afternoon
on the outskirts of Bristow, but are still working to identify the people
inside who were killed.

- Improved cash flow in the city, airport repairs and discussion about the
Census are topics of interest for the Stillwater City Council meeting
Monday at 5:30 p.m. The consent docket, which allows multiple items to be
approved at once, includes several items regarding the Stillwater Regional
Airport, like reconstructing taxi lanes; an access apron, or highway that
runs between T-Hangar No. 2 and the taxi lanes, according to the City
Council agenda.

- Air Force officials in Washington, D.C. have approved an incentive pay
for officer and enlisted Airmen who commit themselves to flying or
operating sensors on remotely piloted aircraft.

- The two latest variants of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle for the
U.S. Army and Customs and Border Protection Service will move closer to
initial deployment following the completion of key tests in California this
month.

- Release of the final request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Air Force’s
KC-X tanker could lead to a contracting conundrum. If the Northrop
Grumman/EADS North America team follows through on its threat not to bid,
the Pentagon’s strategy designed to elicit low, fixed-price offers from
competitors could backfire.

NEWS EVENTS March 2, 2010

- Senate Democrats, upset that a proposed fix for the current year’s state
budget did not include funding for senior nutrition programs, voted Monday
against two key appropriations bills, threatening to derail the budget
agreement.

- As state leaders explore ways to generate additional revenue and balance
Oklahoma’s budget, one agency has come up with a way to generate some cash
and win the love of motorists at the same time - sell the highway patrol’s
airplanes. But at least one state lawmaker opposes the idea.

- State Attorney General Drew Edmondson made a campaign stop in Chickasha
last Friday and said his first priority as governor would rest in creating
jobs and economic growth. He said that he expects Oklahoma to thrive in
areas such as the medical field, aerospace and energy production.

- Article from The Street about American Airlines and its Oneworld alliance
with comments from AA Chief Financial Officer Tom Horton.

- Defense company BAE Systems PLC pleaded guilty to conspiracy Monday, and
a judge imposed a $400 million fine, among the largest in the Justice
Department’s efforts to combat overseas corruption in international
business.

- A federal court has ruled that the FAA must release aircraft registration
information previously kept secret in the National Business Aviation
Association’s Blocked Aircraft Registration Request program. if it receives
a Freedom of Information request.

- Two op-eds warning of overreacting following last month’s plane crash by
a private pilot into the IRS office in Austin, Texas.

- A former president of Cessna Aircraft is working on a project to use
electric hybrid propulsion instead of aviation fuel to power light general
aviation aircraft.

NEWS EVENTS March 3, 2010

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- A stalemate in the Oklahoma Senate over two bills needed to help fix this
year’s $669 million budget shortfall could lead to furloughs of Highway
Patrol troopers and state prison workers if it is not resolved soon.

- Oklahoman editorial critical of Senate Democrats for stalling the passage
of 2010 budget bill.

- Business aircraft activity is up considerably, bucking a trend that saw
an overall decline in general aviation activity (it’s down three percent
overall) in the U.S. according to FlightAware.

- U.S. Congressmen Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and Chris Carney (D-Pa.) recently
sent a letter to the House Committee on Ways and Means requesting an
extension of the current accelerated “bonus” depreciation incentive for
aircraft purchases through Dec. 31 and placed in service by Dec. 31, 2011.

- New rules proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to control
runoff from aircraft deicing fluids would “create safety hazards at many
airports,” the American Association of Airport Executives says. Under the
proposed rules, airports with more than 10,000 annual aircraft departures
and 1,000 annual jet departures would be required to re-capture up to 60
percent of the fluid, rather than allow it to drain off the pavement, where
it can end up in nearby rivers, lakes, streams and bays.

- Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) made
aviation history last month when it successfully completed its first
roundtrip flight from the company’s Palmdale, CA, manufacturing facility,
the company announced Monday.

- Boeing officials plan to begin taxi tests on the company’s Phantom Ray
demonstrator in July, a slight delay from earlier plans, but first flight
is still targeted for December 2010, according Darryl Davis, Boeing Phantom
Works president. Phantom Ray is a revived version of the defunct X-45C
program.

- Northrop Grumman Corp said on Tuesday it was still reviewing the Air
Force’s final terms for a multibillion-dollar aerial tanker competition but
was “getting closer to a decision” on whether to submit a bid with its
European partner EADS.

News Events 03/04/2010

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Following a flurry of negotiations and a great deal of political theater,
state legislative leaders resolved a two-day budget stalemate Wednesday.

- The small plane that crashed near Bristow on Sunday—killing both Tulsa
men aboard—circled the airport and emitted a loud pop before hitting
power lines and then the ground, according to a preliminary report filed
late Wednesday.

- Two pilots who died in a small-plane crash near Collinsville in September
2008 might have been impaired by prescription or over-the-counter
medications, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. But the
federal agency still was not able to determine who was flying the Cessna
320.

- American Airlines, which operates 16 flights a day and employs 7,000
people at Tulsa International Airport, reported a slight drop in passenger
traffic in February while American Eagle, its regional airline affiliate,
posted a slight increase.

- While Oklahoma was not among the 16 finalists announced today for
billions in education reform grants, Gov. Brad Henry said his team will
revamp and reapply for the Race to the Top.

- According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the
organization that represents the Type Certified aircraft world, 2009
worldwide shipments of piston aircraft declined 54.5%. Shipments totaled
965 airplanes in 2009, compared to 2,119 unit airplanes in 2008.

While threatening on one hand to exit the long-running $35 billion
aerial-refueling-tanker competition, Northrop Grumman is at the same time
undertaking a campaign to persuade the Pentagon to build its tankers along
with Boeing’s.

In coming days, Wes Bush, Northrop Grumman Corp.‘s new chief executive,
will face his first big test: whether to take another shot at a $40 billion
Air Force jet contract or let rival Boeing Co. walk away with the prize.

NEWS EVENTS March 5, 2010

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- Flight attendants at American Airlines are a step closer to calling for a
strike against the Fort Worth-based carrier after five days of “lock-down”
negotiations with a federal mediator failed to produce a contract
agreement, union executives said Thursday.

- Passenger expectations of basic needs - like prompt baggage delivery,
airport comfort and ease of navigating the airport - are not being met
consistently, according to a J.D. Power and Associates Airport Satisfaction
Study. At Tulsa International Airport, nearly a third of passengers polled
said in a recent survey that they want more television sets in the
terminal.

- Aviation Exploration Day and Open House will be held at Spartan College
of Aeronautics and Technology from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

- Oklahoman editorial regarding Oklahoma missing the first round of the
Race to the Top education grants.

- The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public board meeting
March 9 to consider a study on what effect the introduction of glass
cockpits into small light general aviation airplanes is having on the
safety record of those aircraft.

- Boeing’s so-called NewGen Tanker, a 767-based design for the U.S. Air
Force KC-X competition, will feature a new refueling boom and a flight deck
based on the 787 commercial transport.

- Defense contractor Boeing Co. said Thursday that it will bid for the Air
Force’s troubled $35 billion refueling plane contract, leaving rival
Northrop Grumman Corp. to decide if it will make its own attempt to build
the long-delayed jets.

- Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Pentagon assured their international
partners Thursday that problems in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program
have been resolved and development of the next-generation warplane is back
on track.

- Column from Popular Mechanics that focuses on the HondaJet project as
well as very light jets in general.

NEWS EVENTS March 5, 2010

News Events March 8, 2010

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- A small plane made an emergency landing in the Arkansas River on Saturday
afternoon near the 71st Street bridge.

- A free informational seminar, “Take Your Business to New Heights: Doing
Business With Tinker Air Logistics Center,” will be offered by the
SpiritBank Business Resource Center at the SpiritBank Tower, 1800 S.
Baltimore Ave., from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

- Three Oklahoma businesses, including Helicomb International, have been
chosen as Blue Ribbon Small Business Award winners by the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, based in Washington, D.C.

- Aero News Network article regarding an editorial by NBAA’s Ed Bolen on
generel aviation security in response to a Long Island Press editorial that
appeared the day after the Austin, Texas, plane crash.

- President Barack Obama plans to appoint Gen. Robert Harding to lead the
Transportation Security Administration.

- Even if its rival for a lucrative contract drops out, the Boeing Co. will
face challenges as it seeks to replace the Air Force’s tanker fleet. Boeing
still has issues to consider should it wind up as the sole bidder for the
contract to replace 179 of the Air Force’s aging KC-135 tankers. Its most
pressing problem will be one of price.

News Articles March 9, 2010

Quick summary of today’s news articles (full text of articles follows):

- State revenue collections in February exceeded the estimate for the first
time since December 2008, but fell short of prior year collections for the
same month, state Treasurer Scott Meacham said today.

American Airlines’ mechanics union has delayed a request to the National
Mediation Board to be released from contract mediation to a 30-day
“cooling-off” period that could lead to a strike against the company, union
officials said Monday.

- A decade after establishing his own venture to help other small, minority
owned firms, Oklahoma City businessman Phil Busey has been named Oklahoma’s
Small Business Person of the Year.

- Some Oklahoma pilots say they didn’t get enough warning about needing to
get a new pilot’s license by March 31.

- Northrop Grumman Corp. announced Monday that it won’t compete against
Boeing Co. for a $35 billion contract to build refueling tankers for the
Air Force because Northrop doesn’t think it can win.