News Articles March 29, 2010

• March 29, 2010
  
  

  Posted on Mar. 29, 2010

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

  • The crash and burn of Quartz Mountain Aerospace long will be felt in the Altus community, leaders say.
  • While state lawmakers are spending their time on bills targeting everything from abortion to an opt-out of a new federal health care plan, what many really want is a hand in crafting the roughly $6 billion state budget.
  • A senior defense official told a Congressional hearing Thursday that perhaps no other weapon platform has more significantly transformed the way the U.S. military wages war in recent years than unmanned aerial aircraft.
  • When the Senate finally passed an FAA reauthorization bill, it appeared there would finally be an end to the string of extensions that have been needed to keep the FAA afloat. But, alas, it was not to be. The 12th three-month extension passed both houses of Congress just before they broke for the Easter recess March 26.
  • The Air Transport Association of America said last Thursday that the U.S. House of Representatives vote on the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act is a “step in the wrong direction.“
  • Unlike large enterprises with more resources, smaller businesses in the aerospace industry face daunting challenges in doing business with the federal government, a leading aerospace executive told the House Small Business Committee last Wednesday.
  • Boeing Co. officials on Sunday said they completed a crucial testing milestone on the long-delayed 787 Dreamliner airplane more than three months after the plane began its flight test regime.
  • Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer that employs hundreds of people in the UK, today revealed that the Pentagon had invited it to bid again for a $35 billion contract to supply 179 air tankers.
  • Transportation Security Administration nominee Maj. Gen. Robert Harding told senators last week that he hoped to quickly transform aviation security by having screeners interact more with airline passengers and moving “closer to an Israeli model.” That change – and others similar to it will not likely happen any time soon because Harding withdrew Friday as President Obama’s nominee for TSA administrator, citing lawmakers’ questions about military contracts with a security company he started in 2001 after retiring from the Army.
  • - The Transportation Security Administration’s revised Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) has been passed from TSA to the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), beginning the vetting process prior to being published as an NPRM, possibly this fall, says Brian Delauter, TSA’s general manager for general aviation.

  OK AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

  Altus community hit hard by aircraft maker’s demise
  BY SUSAN SIMPSON, Staff Writer
  The Oklahoman
  3/27/2010

  ALTUS – The crash and burn of Quartz Mountain Aerospace long will be felt
  in the Altus community, leaders say.

  The maker of the single-engine, four-seater Luscombe Model 11-E was
  starting to take off when it was grounded by a bad economy and bad
  management decisions, said David Braddock, an economic development
  consultant for the city and a former state legislator.

  “A lot of money was lost in Quartz Mountain Aerospace in this small
  community,” Braddock said. “We will feel that hurt for a long time.“

  The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October after laying off most
  of its 150 employees in late 2008.

  Quartz Mountain Aerospace, formerly Luscombe Aircraft Corp., came to Altus
  in 1996, but it took nearly eight years to get Federal Aviation
  Administration approval for the aircraft design and parts.

  Company leaders promised to build 415 pilot training planes and received
  millions of dollars in tax breaks from the state, along with cash from
  local investors and loans from the city of Altus.

  “It had a lot of promise in our area providing jobs,” Braddock said.
  “What’s sad is that it’s a great product. There was a lot of interest in
  it.“

  The company didn’t tailor growth plans as the nation’s economy began
  faltering, he said.

  “Management was overaggressive and really wanted it to work,” he said.

  “Management should have started cutting back and preparing for the
  downturn. Instead, they charged full steam ahead until they ran off the
  cliff.“

  The company left creditors in the lurch, and loan defaults helped take down
  First State Bank of Altus.

  In bankruptcy filings, the manufacturer claimed $16 million in liabilities
  and $30.4 million in assets. Assets included a production certificate from
  the FAA the company valued at $16 million.

  Many of those assets are being auctioned this weekend in Altus.

  The highly coveted production certificate sold Friday for $500,000, said
  auction company owner Steve Starman.

  “We thought that was a little light,” Starman said with a grimace. “But I
  think it speaks to our economy right now.“

  Creditors with liens against the company will get to collect payment first
  once the company’s assets are liquidated.

  Altus one day will recover from the misstep, Braddock said.

  “We’ll get through it,” he said. “It happens to all communities. You have
  some winners and some losers. We hoped to have a winner.“

  Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Natalie Shirley said the company’s demise
  was sad but not a major hit to aerospace manufacturing in the state.

  “We have to put it in perspective,” she said. “Aerospace is huge employer
  in state, with 143,000 workers. It’s huge business in Oklahoma.“

  STATE BUDGET

  Oklahoma leaders wrangling over equitable spending plan for the year
  By Sean Murphy
  AP Writer
  Associated Press
  3/29/2010

  While state lawmakers are spending their time on bills targeting everything
  from abortion to an opt-out of a new federal health care plan, what many
  really want is a hand in crafting the roughly $6 billion state budget.

  But that work is taking place among just a handful of state leaders, mostly
  behind closed doors, as officials wrangle over how to build a budget with
  an estimated $1.2 billion shortfall.

  Some Republicans and Democrats say they’re upset at the secrecy involved in
  the budget process, where most members don’t get a look at the final
  product until the waning days of the legislative session.

  “This is a terrible way to the do the budget,” said state Rep. Ryan Kiesel,
  D-Seminole. “We’ve spent countless hours debating really frivolous, highly
  charged political issues, and the only time we’ve spent on the budget on
  the floor has been to go through this process of passing shell bills with
  no numbers in them.“

  But legislative leaders say it’s not practical to propose all of their
  ideas – either for budget cuts or revenue enhancements – until there is
  some consensus among each of the three sides involved in the negotiations:
  the House, the Senate and the governor’s office.

  “If you’re constantly running out thoughts and ideas that you’re talking
  about, you’re going to get a lot of people riled up about something that
  might not ever make it into the budget,” said state Rep. Ken Miller, the
  chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and key budget negotiator
  for House Speaker Chris Benge.

  Meanwhile, House and Senate leaders, who met with the governor last week,
  are hesitant to discuss the progress of negotiations on the budget for the
  upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.

  Lawmakers will have an estimated $1.2 billion less to spend than last year.

  They will be able to close some of that gap with about $223 million from
  the state’s constitutional Rainy Day Fund and roughly $500 million in
  federal stimulus dollars, but without any new sources of revenue, the
  remaining hole will result in budget cuts of about 10 to 12 percent across
  all state agencies, officials warn.

  Most state agencies already have seen their budgets slashed an average of
  7.5 percent this fiscal year.

  “They’re going to have to make some cuts that aren’t going to be popular,
  either with the public or inside their agencies,” said Senate President Pro
  Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City. “We’re in tough times, and I don’t see
  much alternative.“

  Shielding the “core four” areas of education, transportation, public safety
  and public health will be virtually impossible without decimating the rest
  of state government. Those four areas make up about 90 percent of the
  budget. Common and higher education combined make up more than 50 percent
  of state funding.

  Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Mike Johnson said, “Education is going
  to have to be cut. They’re going to have to share in the pain.“

  All sides are remaining tightlipped about any revenue enhancements, saying
  only that all ideas are being considered, except for tax increases.

  Those enhancements could include, among other things, the elimination or
  suspension of some tax breaks, such as Gov. Brad Henry proposed in his
  executive budget, enhanced collection of sales taxes on Internet or remote
  sales, or a delay in scheduled tax cuts.

  Those discussions still are taking place in private negotiations between
  the Democratic governor and leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature.

  “We’ve discussed several, but I’m not at liberty to discuss them,” said
  Johnson, R-Kingfisher.

  UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

  Official Hails Effect Of Unmanned Aircraft On Warfare To House Panel
  Flight Operations Have Grown To Over A Half-Million Hours Annually
  Aero News Network
  3/27/2010

  A senior defense official told a Congressional hearing Thursday that
  perhaps no other weapon platform has more significantly transformed the way
  the U.S. military wages war in recent years than unmanned aerial aircraft.

  Since 2006, operations have grown from about 165,000 hours to more than
  550,000 hours annually, said Dyke Weatherington, the deputy for the
  unmanned aerial vehicle planning task force in the office of the
  undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. “I
  would articulate that it is difficult to find any other technology in the
  Department of Defense that in a single decade has made such a tremendous
  impact on the warfighting capability of the department,” Weatherington told
  the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

  The department’s budget has reflected the growing emphasis on unmanned
  vehicles, with the annual allotment for development and procurement of such
  systems increasing from about $1.7 billion in fiscal 2006 to more than $4.2
  billion in fiscal 2010.

  The rapid fielding of such systems has not been without flaws,
  Weatherington acknowledged, citing ongoing challenges in making systems
  interoperable among various users of the technology. Yet, he said, the goal
  remains to maintain the ability to meet warfighters’ urgent needs, while
  encouraging individual service branches to adopt the same technology.

  “There are several examples of where, through Office of the Secretary of
  Defense and Joint Staff encouragement, we have gotten all the services to
  procure identical or virtually identical systems,” he told lawmakers.

  With almost 1 million such flight hours clocked in Iraq and Afghanistan,
  the Army is committed to growing the program to keep pace with demand for
  the capability. This year alone, the Army plans to train more than 2,000
  operators who ultimately will deploy with the ground troops they will
  support, Carlile reported.

  Army unmanned aerial systems come in three primary forms. The Raven, just
  under three feet long, supports battalions down to the platoon level. The
  Shadow, 11 feet long with a 14-foot wingspan, supports brigade-level
  operations. The more sophisticated “big daddy” of Army systems, the
  Extended Range Multi-Purpose system, has a 56-foot wingspan and supports
  division-level operations.

  In addition to U.S. warfighters, these platforms have proven useful for
  American allies such as Pakistan, which Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates
  earlier this year said would receive RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles
  from the U.S. to support their fight against extremists.

  The United States has been working with the Pakistani military for more
  than a year to enhance its own intelligence and surveillance capabilities,
  Gates said in remarks in January during a visit to the Pakistani capital of
  Islamabad.

  FAA REAUTHORIZATION

  Senate and House to try after recess to reconcile FAA reauthorization
  Posted by Charles Spence
  General Aviation News
  3/28/2010

  When the Senate finally passed an FAA reauthorization bill, it appeared
  there would finally be an end to the string of extensions that have been
  needed to keep the FAA afloat. But, alas, it was not to be. The 12th
  three-month extension passed both houses of Congress just before they broke
  for the Easter recess March 26.

  In an unusual amending process, the House combined two aviation bills and
  returned the blended bill to the Senate. These bills are the Federal
  Aviation Administration Act and the Airline Safety and Training Act. This
  combining, coupled with the Senate passage of the extension to July 31,
  sets the stage for the two houses to resolve their differences through
  conferences.

  The House version has two provisions not included in the Senate bill.
  First, there would be an increase in passenger facility charges from $4.50
  to $7. Second, it would provide consistence in collective bargaining rights
  for employees working on the ground and driving trucks to organize under
  the National Labor Relations Act, which enables union organization at the
  local level as opposed to at the national level.

  Also, financial issues need to be worked out. Over a three-year period the
  House bills come in at $53.5 billion, while the Senate has it pegged at
  $34.5 billion for two fiscal years. The House bill also provides
  significant financial increases in aid to airports.

  In rising to urge his colleagues to support passage of the blended bill for
  return to the Senate, Sen. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), a staunch supporter of
  general aviation, said more than 20 hearings on reauthorization were held
  by his Aviation Subcommittee, five round-table discussions, and “input from
  the FAA and every group and organization in the aviation community.“

  ATA Urges Constructive, Forward-Thinking FAA Reauthorization
  Says The House Bill Is Lacking From An Airline Perspective
  Aero News Network
  3/27/2010

  The Air Transport Association of America (ATA) said Thursday that the U.S.
  House of Representatives vote on the FAA Air Transportation Modernization
  and Safety Improvement Act is a “step in the wrong direction.“

  ATA President and CEO James C. May said the Senate FAA Reauthorizaion bill
  provides a better course for the nation’s air traffic system and other
  issues.

  According to May, the nation needs legislation that:

  Provides leadership and direction to accelerate the deployment of our
  nation’s NextGen air traffic management system—including creative
  solutions that synchronize benefits with financing options to help get the
  infrastructure installed.

  Encourages, rather than impedes, the expansion of international air
  service.

  Deals responsibly with any reasonable concerns about cross-border aircraft
  maintenance while taking advantage of the extensive existing oversight by
  our bilateral partners.

  Halts the excessive growth of the tax-and-fee burden by rejecting the
  House’s $2 billion Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) increase.

  May added, “We sincerely hope that the House decides to take a more
  constructive and forward-thinking approach to FAA reauthorization as this
  legislation moves forward.“

  U.S. AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

  AIA Urges Congress To Simplify Small Business Contracting
  Says Federal Contracting Process Is Too Complex
  Aero News Network
  3/27/2010

  Unlike large enterprises with more resources, smaller businesses in the
  aerospace industry face daunting challenges in doing business with the
  federal government, a leading aerospace executive told the House Small
  Business Committee Wednesday. “The federal contracting process is complex
  and, for small businesses, the process can be too difficult to manage,“
  said Robert R. Sprole, III, president and CEO of Therm, Inc., which
  manufactures jet engine turbine air foils.

  Sprole, representing AIA and its nearly 300 member companies, told the
  committee that, in the aerospace business, small companies represent about
  70 percent of manufactured items.

  Small companies have found three major challenges in doing business with
  the federal government, specifically the Department of Defense. These are:

  - Barriers to entry for federal contracting are onerous.

  - Financial requirements that are difficult for large businesses may be
  fatal for smaller ones.

  - As they grow, smaller businesses face new obstacles for retaining
  government business.

  Sprole welcomed the ongoing review of export control rules as the current
  system makes it difficult and expensive for a small business to obtain an
  export license. On behalf of AIA, Sprole urged Congress to order a study of
  how this complex maze of laws and regulations can be simplified. “By
  opening the contracting process to new businesses, new jobs will be
  created, contracting requirements will be more easily understood and
  businesses, particularly small firms, will be encouraged to grow and
  prosper,” he said.

  Boeing Dreamliner Passes Test
  By PETER SANDERS
  The Wall Street Journal
  3/29/2010

  Boeing Co. officials on Sunday said they completed a crucial testing
  milestone on the long-delayed 787 Dreamliner airplane more than three
  months after the plane began its flight test regime.

  In a statement, the company said that, “initial results” were positive but
  cautioned that “more extensive analysis and review are required before the
  test can be deemed a success.” The tests involved bending the wings of a
  grounded plane upward 25 feet and subjecting the plane’s wings and body to
  forces that replicated 150% of the most extreme loads the plane would ever
  likely face in service.

  The outcome of Sunday’s “ultimate load test” is a key point in the ongoing
  flight and ground testing of the high-tech widebody jetliner, half of which
  is made of state-of-the-art composite materials.

  Sunday’s test was performed inside a hangar at Boeing’s Everett, Wash.,
  factory north of Seattle. The “static airframe” Boeing uses for the test
  isn’t a flyable aircraft. If the test isn’t determined a complete success,
  Boeing will have a potentially major problem on its hands. The Dreamliner
  is its marquee new commercial jet and is already nearly three years behind
  schedule. More than 850 jetliners are on order and customers have been
  impatient to take their initial deliveries, which has likely cost Boeing
  billions of dollars in penalties.

  The results of a similar test last May threw the entire 787 program into
  flux and forced a further six-month delay after engineers discovered damage
  where the wings of the plane met the fuselage. That damage occurred under
  much lighter forces and called into question Boeing’s use and reliance on
  the carbon fiber composite material that makes up much of the airplane. It
  was also an embarrassment for Boeing’s top management, as executives had
  been publicly saying for weeks after the failed test that the plane would
  make its first flight in late June 2009; they were forced to abruptly
  backtrack and cancel that potential flight as they scrambled to come up
  with a fix for the problem.

  Engineers eventually did determine a fix that strengthened the affected
  composite areas and were able to fly the plane for the first time on Dec.
  15. However, Jim McNerney, Chicago-based Boeing’s chairman and chief
  executive, also reshuffled the top management across the company last
  summer in order to get the Dreamliner program back on track and continue to
  solve nagging issues with its network of global suppliers working on the
  787.

  Sunday’s load test comes roughly three months after the first Dreamliner
  test aircraft took to the skies. Since then, Boeing has gotten four of the
  six planned test Dreamliners aloft and those planes have completed nearly
  400 hours of flight tests, primarily in Washington state, with some testing
  done in Southern California, as well.

  In an interview earlier this month, Jim Albaugh, head of Boeing’s
  commercial airplane unit in Seattle, said that test flight program was on
  track, but acknowledged that some “unforeseen issues that are routine in
  any new airplane program,” have “eaten into the contingency margin” giving
  the company less of a cushion should further issues crop up.

  Nor has the Federal Aviation Administration begun the major phase of its
  testing with Boeing that is required to certify the plane for entry into
  commercial service. The FAA’s participation in testing was expected to
  begin by the end of this month but it remains unclear exactly when it will
  proceed. But, Mr. Albaugh said, the company still plans to deliver the
  first 787 to launch customer All Nippon Airways Co. sometime before the end
  of 2010.

  TANKER CONTROVERSY

  US invites Airbus to re-bid for $35b deal
  By Robert Lindsay
  The London Times
  3/29/2010

  Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer that employs hundreds of people
  in the UK, today revealed that the Pentagon had invited it to bid again for
  a $35 billion contract to supply 179 air tankers.

  Airbus’s parent company EADS and its US partner Northrop Grumman pulled out
  of the bid two weeks ago, alleging that the terms had been loaded in favour
  of Boeing, its American rival.

  The withdrawal appeared to clear the way for Boeing to win the contract and
  resulted in political uproar in Europe and a mounting threat of a trade
  war.

  In an interview, Thomas Enders, the chief executive of Airbus, said: “The
  Pentagon has asked us to decide if we would like to participate, but this
  time as the main contractor. It is a fundamental difference.“

  He said that Airbus would decide in two to three weeks whether to re-enter
  the competition.

  Last week, EADS asked the Pentagon to extend the May 10 deadline by 90 days
  to allow it to bid again as the lead contractor. The Pentagon said that it
  was prepared to consider such a move.

  “The decision to participate or not will be made in the next two to three
  weeks,” Mr Enders said. “It will be particularly difficult to make a
  competitive offer. We always need a reliable American partner and a
  competent team to make an offer.“

  The Northrop-EADS withdrawal from the race triggered uproar in Europe, with
  President Sarkozy and Angela Merkel accusing Washington of bias in favour
  of the all-American Boeing aircraft. Karel De Gucht, the European Trade
  Commissioner, had said that Europe might consider adopting European Union
  standards for military equipment.

  The team had won the contract in February 2008, but the deal was cancelled
  after a successful Boeing appeal to the investigative unit of Congress.

  AVIATION SECURITY

  TSA left in holding pattern?
  By Thomas Frank
  USA TODAY
  3/28/2010

  Transportation Security Administration nominee Maj. Gen. Robert Harding
  told senators last week that he hoped to quickly transform aviation
  security by having screeners interact more with airline passengers and
  moving “closer to an Israeli model.“

  That change – and others similar to it – will not likely happen any time
  soon because Harding withdrew Friday as President Obama’s nominee for TSA
  administrator, citing lawmakers’ questions about military contracts with a
  security company he started in 2001 after retiring from the Army.

  Harding’s withdrawal comes two months after Obama’s first nominee to head
  the TSA, Erroll Southers, dropped out, and it raises concerns that the TSA
  won’t be able to implement or adjust policy at a crucial time in the
  nation’s efforts to better secure the skies.

  “In order to champion bold new initiatives, you do need a leader who is
  confirmed and firmly in charge,” RAND Corp. security analyst Brian Jenkins
  said. The TSA has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since Obama took
  office and is being run by acting Administrator Gale Rossides, a TSA
  veteran.

  The Homeland Security Department, which oversees the TSA, downplays the
  impact of having no permanent TSA leader. Homeland Security Secretary Janet
  Napolitano has worked with TSA leaders “to implement major aviation
  security enhancements,” department press secretary Clark Stevens said.

  Since the failed attempt to bomb an airliner flying near Detroit on
  Christmas Day, Napolitano has reached agreements with several dozen
  countries to improve their aviation security. Napolitano also directed the
  TSA to accelerate the installation of body scanners at U.S. airports – a
  program launched under President George W. Bush.

  Loss of momentum
  Some aviation officials worry that the absence of a permanent TSA chief
  will stall efforts to refine the Homeland Security Department’s largest
  agency.

  “We’re concerned that the longer we go without a TSA leader, we’re going to
  lose some of the momentum needed to make reforms,” said Steve Lott of the
  International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines.

  Lott and others point to changes that former TSA chief Kip Hawley made
  after his appointment by Bush in 2005 that changed how fliers interact with
  airport screeners and what items they could carry through security
  checkpoints. Hawley’s changes:

  · Reversed bans on passengers carrying small scissors, tools and lighters

  onto airplanes. That was an effort to have screeners focus more on scouring
  carry-on bags for homemade bombs, which Hawley said were the biggest threat
  to airplanes, instead of finding objects that posed little danger.

  · Launched a program that trains screeners to spot passengers in airport

  terminals who appear suspicious. More than 3,000 screeners now have such
  training.

  · Improved workplace conditions for screeners and helped reduce turnover

  and on-the-job injuries.

  “Those kind of decisions just don’t happen with an acting administrator,“
  said Randall Larsen, director of the Institute for Homeland Security. “Gale
  (Rossides) is fully qualified to run the day-to-day operations, but none of
  the big decisions about so many difficult issues are going to be made.“

  Workers demoralized
  TSA screener A.J. Castilla said Harding’s withdrawal demoralized workers
  who had been elated by the nomination of a retired two-star general.

  “There’s something about having a U.S. general say, I want to lead this
  workforce, I believe in your effort,” said Castilla, who works at Boston’s
  Logan International Airport and is an officer in a TSA union.

  Harding, 62, said in a statement that “distractions caused by my work as a
  defense contractor would not be good for this Administration nor the
  Department of Homeland Security.” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned
  Harding on Wednesday about payments to his former company, Harding Security
  Associates.

  President Obama acknowledged the importance of having top Homeland Security
  officials Saturday when he appointed Alan Bersin to head Customs and Border
  Protection, a sister agency to TSA. The Senate had stalled the confirmation
  of Bersin and 14 other top officials, Obama said in making the “recess
  appointments” that allow the nominees to serve temporarily without Senate
  confirmation.

  “I must act in the interest of the American people,” Obama said in a
  statement.

  TSA GA Manager: New LASP Target This Fall
  By James E. Swickard
  Aviation Week
  3/26/2010

  The Transportation Security Administration’s revised Large Aircraft
  Security Program (LASP) has been passed from TSA to the Dept. of Homeland
  Security (DHS), beginning the vetting process prior to being published as
  an NPRM, possibly this fall, says Brian Delauter, TSA’s general manager for
  general aviation.

  Delauter told a well-attended meeting of the Westchester Aviation
  Association this morning that the agency was seeking a less adversarial
  relationship with the industry. He added that TSA was very likely to again
  hold a series of “public meetings” on the new LASP, the first of which may
  well be at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., which hosted
  the first public meeting on the previous LASP. He said he fervently hoped
  that this iteration of the regulation would be considered more reasonable
  by pilots, flight department managers, FBOs and other stakeholders.

  The last LASP generated in excess of 9,000 negative comments and was
  ridiculed as being written by people with no knowledge of general and
  corporate aviation. An example was TSA wanting to prohibit the carriage of
  golf clubs, skis, pen knives and even tools in areas accessible to
  passengers. There were requirements to screen each pilot and passenger,
  including family members and lifetime acquaintances.

  Delauter noted that the natural attitude of legislators and regulators was
  that if they didn’t understand something (like general aviation), they
  tended to fear it and he had to do a lot of educating in his job.

  Straight-spoken despite security and bureaucratic constraints in his
  position which he has held since July, last year, Delauter said he will use
  his general aviation experience in government and private industry to lead
  TSA’s strategy to enhance security within the general aviation sector
  without crippling that sector. Both local operators and WAA members said
  the new relationship was, “like night and day”.

  Delauter joined TSA in 2002 as a stakeholder liaison (airport security
  officer) and in 2006 he was appointed assistant federal security director
  at Jacksonville International Airport. In 2007, he was named federal
  security director at Savannah International Airport, where he was
  responsible for all TSA activities at nine airports across two states.
  During that period, he frequently flew a Cessna 172, the only time in his
  career, “he flew just for fun.“

  Delauter began his aviation career at Eglin AFB, flew for Northwest
  Airlines and joined TSA after being furloughed, rounding out his aviation
  experience. He currently holds a Commercial Pilot license with single- and
  multi-engine land ratings, Airline Transport Pilot and is Flight Instructor
  (Single Engine, Multi Engine and Instrument).

  In an interview with Aviation Week after his presentation, Delauter
  stressed that the future holds a better relation between the agency and the
  industry, saying, “We’ll be ten times more secure in partnership, than
  without it.“