Blog Archives
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William O'Brien Trophy for Aviation Tech Excellence
By Ronald Donner - Thursday February 14, 2013
The AMTSociety has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Snap-on. For those of you that have attended the AMTSociety Maintenance Skills Competition, held in conjunction with Aviation Pros LIVE (former Cygnus Aviation Expo) you have seen the Snap-on presence. This year at Aviation Pros LIVE’13 held March 13 and 14 in Las Vegas, NE, the William O'Brien Trophy for Aviation Tech Excellence will be presented by Snap-on, and will be bestowed to the team with the overall winning score from the Maintenance Skills Competition. This prestigious award will be on display in the winning team’s facility for a year. The late William O’Brien was a popular figure in the FAA, advocating for the profession, safety, and professionalism... -
Let's Talk About RBS. And Pre-Check. And Opt-Out. Again.
By Art Kosatka - Wednesday February 13, 2013On the face of it, TSA’s Risk Based Security (RBS) seems like a pretty good idea: use your limited resources to address real identifiable risk, which in the physical security world is most often defined as threat-times-vulnerability. There are certainly plenty of airport vulnerabilities to go around, but the operative question is vulnerable to what? Defining the threat is always a fast-moving, fast-morphing target which is a continuing challenge for static policies and procedures using static technologies. Pre-check is a child of RBS: use the U.S.’ massive intelligence capabilities to check up on you, your family and friends, and if you’re not a terrorist threat, you get a quick once-over instead of the full screening... -
The Connection Between Customer Loyalty and Customer Complaints
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Tuesday February 12, 2013
Companies that receive a steady stream of customer complaints surely risk losing customers if there is no genuine attempt to first listen to the complaint and then take steps toward a resolution. In fact, some studies suggest that over 90 percent of customers who are upset and have a complaint will never buy products or services from the offending company again. The good news, though, is that nearly 75 percent of these customers can be won back if there is a process in place that makes them feel like their concerns are being heard — and that someone is taking steps to resolve their problems. Customers’ complaints may not even be solved in exactly the way they originally envisioned, but if they know that the service provider... -
Future Airline Markets
By Ralph Hood - Tuesday February 12, 2013
Airlines seem to have made up their collective minds — at last — that there is no sense in flying people places for a price that produces less than the cost of the flight. This makes sense. At the same time, mergers do seem to be on the rise. What will this do to competition? One side says that — woe is us — it will put the market into too few hands and pax will be forced to pay “excessive” (whatever that means) prices. That side tends to think govmint may have to interfere with the market — in other words, reregulate the market — in order to keep prices “fair.” Let’s not forget that there is another side that really does believe in the free market. Count me among that group. Adam Smith — who wrote the book... -
How The Halvorsen Loader Got Its Name
By Steve Smith - Tuesday February 12, 2013
We put the finishing touches on our February issue last week that celebrates our 20 th year publishing the leading voice of the ground support community. Our cover story is on the history of ground support equipment, which can trace its ancestry all the way back to 1705 when the Goldhofer family started a blacksmith’s shop. Ironically, the professional management of that company was in the news last week, too, when it announced the acquisition of Schopf - by comparison a teenager that got its start in 1945 when Jorg Schopf opened a design office to develop shovel loaders. We tried our best to celebrate the names behind the brand names throughout the 4,000-word feature. You’ve no doubt heard of Hobart Brothers, the company. But... -
Coming Attractions: Aviation PROs Live
By Steve Smith - Tuesday February 5, 2013We're putting the finishing touches on our upcoming AviationPros LIVE show, March 13-14, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. We are very pleased to partner with Boyd Group International for next month’s event. Michael Boyd, chairman of Boyd Group International, will outline the major issues facing aviation today and provide insight into the best and worst outcomes for the key concerns. In addition to providing the keynote address at the show, Boyd will hold two educational sessions titled The New Skyscape and Navigating The New Future . Both of these sessions are promised to provide insight valuable to all aviation segments; general aviation, airlines, airports, and FBOs. Ground Support Worldwide will host two seminars each on... -
Electric GSE : Battery Inspections Matter
By John Goglia - Tuesday February 5, 2013
All this talk of the Boeing 787’s problems with lithium ion batteries has caused some talk among electric GSE owners and those considering buying electric GSE – regardless of the type of battery. Of course, anyone using any battery to power their equipment needs to be concerned about how those batteries work and whether there is any possibility of a fire starting. Naturally, a fire on the ground doesn’t begin to compare with a fire on an aircraft at altitude, but is nonetheless a cause for concern. The Boeing 787 battery that caused a fire on the ground at Boston’s Logan International Airport did considerable damage to the aircraft and could have caused injuries and worse but for the quick thinking cleaners who immediately... -
What It Takes to Be #1 — From Football to Aviation Companies
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Tuesday February 5, 2013Over 110 million viewers tuned in to watch the Super Bowl last February between the Giants and the Patriots. This Sunday the news is reporting that there will be a shortage of chicken wings because of the amount of wings consumed by these football viewers---young and old, male and female as they watch Super Bowl XLVII. Football has become an important part of American culture---just like apple pie and red, white and blue. One of the great icons of football was former Coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vincent T. Lombardi. In fact, the “Super Bowl Trophy” was renamed in 1971 “The Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy” because of his influence on the game. Vince Lombardi had many great words and inspirational themes for his... -
FAs — Someone Wants To "Incentivize" You!
By Ralph Hood - Tuesday February 5, 2013I got a most interesting press release recently. Allegiant Systems’ iPad based Fly Desk provides every flight attendant (FA) on participating airlines’ crews with an iPad that “digitizes” reports and manuals while providing a secure communication tool and does a bunch of other things. This will be a big boon to the airline and — surprise, surprise — also to the FAs. The twist is that the iPad is the FA’s to use both professionally and personally. The FA can load his/her own music and other programs and use the iPad at home. The company says that with iPads selling at $399 up, this will be a great fringe benefit for the FA as well as the airline. Sounds good to me, and the company offered to let me talk with an FA who is... -
Fatigue and Poor Practice – a Bad Combination
By Ronald Donner - Thursday January 31, 2013This week the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a statement regarding the December 2011 air tour helicopter crash near Las Vegas, Nevada. The findings of the NTSB hit very close to home for all aircraft maintenance professionals. The NTSB press release states the crash was the result of the operator’s “ improper reuse of a degraded self-locking nut in the servo control input rod and the improper or non-use of a split pin to secure the degraded nut, in addition to an inadequate post-maintenance inspection. Contributing to the improper (or lack of) split pin installation was the mechanic's fatigue and lack of clearly delineated steps to follow on a "work card" or "checklist." The inspector's fatigue and lack of a work...
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Events
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- 05/15/13 - 05/18/13
- ACI-NA Legal Affairs Conference
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Conference/Expo, Seattle, WA
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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
- EBACE2013
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Conference/Expo, Geneva,
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- 05/21/13 - 05/22/13
- FAME in Jet Measurement and EI Aviation Fuels Test Method Conference
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Conference/Expo, Teddington,
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- 06/03/13 - 06/03/13
- Ultrasonic Testing Level 1 Course
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Training, Lewistown, PA
