Blog Archives
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Watching aviation/aerospace has never been more exciting
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday March 14, 2012NextGen is looking more and more doable and wonderful. This will greatly enhance the efficiency, safety and capacity of our system and thus improve the capabilities of airports. In the meantime, privately-funded space programs are out there, each trying to beat the other. One of the most interesting—in which Branson’s Virgin Galactic plays a big role—includes a mother ship designed by Burt Rutan. Another includes Burt himself, the deep pockets and great vision of Paul Allen (of Microsoft fame and fortune), and two other companies—Dynetics and StratoLaunch from my old home base, Huntsville, AL. Together, they plan to build the largest airplane in history to launch space rockets from high altitudes. Don’t laugh. Remember... -
‘A Gathering Of The Tribe’
By Steve Smith - Tuesday March 13, 2012
Our headline is how one of our winners of this year’s Ground Support Leaders of the Year awards described the attendees of last week’s Cygnus Aviation Expo. I went up to shake hands with Bill Jacob after he won our Lifetime Achievement Award. “Back in the old days,” Bill told us during our packed Networking Party last Thursday, “the readers of your magazine used to consider this show to be ‘a gathering of the tribe.’ ” Bill no doubt has plenty of memories of getting together with the tribe. Our magazine has only been around for half of Bill’s career at Eastern Airlines and the United Parcel Service. He’s currently vice president of the UPS ground support division and oversees 32,000 pieces of GSE. He added his father... -
2012 Aviation Expo Lives Up To Hype
By John Goglia - Tuesday March 13, 2012Sometimes it is possible to keep getting better! The Cygnus Aviation Expo this past week promised to be better than ever, and it was. Maybe it is a harbinger of better times for GSE – but the exhibits were plentiful with a lot of new technology and improvements. Some that caught my attention: The latest in fuel truck design – which promises to be easier to maneuver and maintain – and is easy on the eyes (hey, who says fuel trucks have to be ugly?) Baggage carts and container dollies that have been redesigned to improve their durability and make maintenance easier and less expensive (I remember what a pain it was to replace casters on container dollies; today’s designs make the process so much simpler!) The latest in fill... -
Above The Wing Versus Under The Wing Training
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Wednesday March 7, 2012In today's increasingly knowledge based economy, human capital is the single most important source of competitive advantage. Pressure from competition requires organizations to continuously work to improve the quality of their products and services. Many companies are moving toward being more and more service oriented, as opposed to product oriented. They are building services around their products to enhance the delivery and maintain the increasingly discretionary customer. People are the key to carrying out those increased and enhanced services. Maintaining a competitive advantage through people requires an ongoing investment in their development, so that they can stay current in a rapidly changing world. It is also an important... -
Making The Turn With SWA At LAS
By Steve Smith - Tuesday March 6, 2012
The "chili pepper" knows everything. We spent yesterday morning on the ramp outside the C2 gate at McCarran International Airport in the company of Rico Villalobos, ramp supervisor and 20-year veteran of Southwest Airlines ground handling operations. Villalobos, stout as a pushback, explained the printout he handed us that listed the morning's work. Toward the middle of the page was an icon that looked more like a chili pepper than the clipboard it was meant to be. "Everyone also calls it a chili pepper because it's 'hot,' " he explains. "Click on the icon and you can see how much luggage, for example, you can expect. Or, maybe, there's some freight to consider." And while Southwest is not considered to run a hub-and-spoke... -
Cygnus Aviation Expo
The entire “AviationPros” group will be in Las Vegas for the Cygnus Aviation Expo held at the Las Vegas Convention Center March 7, 8, & 9, 2012. We have several interesting aircraft maintenance sessions planned open to all the attendees. Here’s a quick recap of some of the events for Aircraft Maintenance Technology readers: Wednesday March 7 th from 2:00 to 3:00PM. “Actively Engaged”. What does FAA's recent clarification mean for IA renewals? Wednesday March 7 th from 3:30 to 4:30PM. Unmanned Aircraft. Northland Community & Technical College provides the latest information into this emerging industry and what they are doing to train present and future UAV maintenance technicians. Thursday March 8 th from noon to... -
Promoted to Supervisor from the Floor or Frontline – What Do I Do Now?
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Wednesday February 29, 2012Management Scenario: Mike has been a maintenance technician at XYZ Aviation for 18 years. He is the most knowledgeable and dependable maintenance professional on his team. Jerry, his supervisor, recently retired after 35 years on the job. Mike was promoted to Maintenance Supervisor because of his experience and commitment to the company. Mike was of course thrilled with the promotion, but he has had some challenges. The guys on the floor are all his buddies, so it has been a tough transition from “buddy” to supervisor. It has also been difficult for Mike because he has never had any formal management training with tips on how to be a successful leader. This scenario happens quite frequently in the aviation/aerospace industry... -
A Pleasant Surprise!
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday February 29, 2012I have spent many years marketing flight training, with varying results. This week I got a pleasant surprise. WNC Aviation, Asheville, NC, (hereinafter called WNC, which, BTW, stands for Western North Carolina) is actually selling flight instruction with what is to me a new and unique marketing tool in the aviation industry. Groupon, as many of you know, is an online company that distributes coupons across the nation and—so far—in 44 other countries around the world. They send me notices of such deals for my area every day, and I read them to see if there’s a bargain that I want or need. This week, to my amazement, there was a coupon deal from WNC. The coupon provided an hour of simulator training for half price. Let... -
See You Next Week In Vegas
By Steve Smith - Tuesday February 28, 2012All the “AviationPros” will be heading to Las Vegas next week for the Cygnus Aviation Expo , March 7-9. I’ll be glad to meet everyone I can so stop by our booth No. 408 for a visit. In the meantime, here’s a recap of some events presented for Ground Support Worldwide readers. Green GSE Seminars March 8 in the Exhibit Hall Theater Going Green At US Airways Express 1:30-2:30 p.m. US Airways Express/Piedmont Airlines has used electric GSE at many of its locations for years, in particular at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and the Philadelphia International Airport. In fact, electricity powers a major portion of its baggage tractors and belt loaders at these busy airports. The seminar promises to share... -
Training Ramp Workers
By John Goglia - Tuesday February 28, 2012
One of my pet peeves when I ran my own FBO was training the ramp guys. There never seemed to be enough time – and the customer never wanted to spend any money – getting the ramp guys trained to the customer's needs. After all, customers usually call the shots on how they want their aircraft loaded and unloaded, fueled, etc. So all the training ended up being OJT – "on the job," for those of you who may be reading me outside the country. OJT probably ends up costing everyone more in the long run. In my experience, unless OJT is formalized it rarely results in the same level of training as a structured course – which does not have to be a very long course to be effective. Sometimes, a day or two of classroom-style training can pay...
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Events
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- 05/19/13 - 05/22/13
- 85th Annual AAAE Conference and Exposition 2013
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Conference/Expo, Reno, NV
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- 05/21/13 - 05/23/13
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Conference/Expo, Geneva,
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- 05/21/13 - 05/22/13
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Conference/Expo, Teddington,
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- 06/03/13 - 06/03/13
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Training, Lewistown, PA
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Conference/Expo, Atlanta, GA
