Effective January 19, 2021, new tax regulations clarify how the charter industry should address the Commercial Aviation Federal Excise Tax (“FET”) with managed aircraft. The new regulations will give the charter industry a new sales tool:  charter flights for owners in their own aircraft will not be subject to FET.  This means that aircraft owners […]

“No bucks, no Buck Rogers.”  This quote from The Right Stuff neatly sums up the interrelationship between business aviation and the tax code.  Many years ago, Bob Dole was a Senator from the airplane-building State of Kansas.  Senator Dole was a commanding presence in the Senate, particularly when it came to crafting the tax code […]

In September, the NTSB published a Final Report with a very simple determination of probable cause: “The pilot’s loss of helicopter control as a result of fatigue during cruise flight at night.” The flight was a “tail-end ferry flight.” Unlike FAR Part 121 operations, charter operators under FAR Part 135 have no rest requirements for […]

The FAA is Coming For years the FAA’s lack of budget dictated cut backs on “non-essential travel” to places like: airports. Budget cutbacks also resulted in Flight Standards Offices (formerly known as FSDOs, or GADOs if you are older) migrating from convenient airport office buildings to cheaper office parks that are nowhere near an airport. And of […]

The NTSB Investigates, It Doesn’t Enforce The National Transportation Safety Board is unique within the massive federal organization chart. One might expect to find it next to the FAA among the “subsidiaries” of the Department of Transportation. The NTSB was originally established in 1967, but in 1974, Congress reestablished the NTSB as a completely separate […]

Rewriting FAR Part 135 Rest & Duty In one of my favorite movie scenes, a swashbuckling pirate is about to lead the beautiful princess into a dark morass of vegetation. The princess stops short and says, “We can’t go in there! It’s the Fireswamp! We will never come out alive!” The pirate confidently replies, “Nonsense. […]