Aviation Organizations

There are several Aviation Organizations that are available to students, current professionals or even citizens interested in aviation industry. However, I believe that there are a few organizations that could be beneficial for students to join when applying for future careers in the aviation industry. The first organization that I think is very beneficial is the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).  For those seeking careers in business aviation, this industry provides outstanding diversity in aircraft, missions, schedules and clients, and there are great prospects for jobs and career advancement nationwide. NBAA offers scholarships to students, on-demand education, networking opportunities, and access to the NBAA jobs board which allows someone entering the field to post their resume and access business aviation employment listings for the United States and abroad. The NBAA's mission statement is "To foster an environment that allows business aviation to thrive in the united states and around the world."

Another organization that I believe to be beneficial is Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). This organization offers a variety of services that are available to current and future pilots. By being a member of AOPA you are eligible for insurance discounts, special financing rates when purchasing an aircraft, and special pilot services like flight training loans. For those looking to become more educated in general aviation this organizations lays it all out for you. AOPA's mission states "We protect your freedom to fly by advocating on behalf of our members, educating pilots, nonpilots, and policy makers alike, supporting activities that ensure the long-term health of General Aviation, fighting to keep General Aviation accessible to all, and securing sufficient resources to ensure our success."

Although these are only two available organizations that one could join I find that these are two important ones. For someone going into business aviation becoming a member of NBAA would create great opportunities for your future career in the industry. 

References

http://www.nbaa.org/

http://www.nbaa.org/about/

http://www.aopa.org/

http://www.aopa.org/About-AOPA/Governance/Mission-and-History-of-AOPA

The Business of Aviation

With the old saying "it takes money to make money" becomes very true in the aviation industry. Everything in the industry cost money and lots of money. Starting with even buying one commercial aircraft this will cost millions of dollars, painting the aircraft to your companies exact specifications, fueling the aircraft, and even configuring the interior to the way it will fit the companies needs. From a consumer standpoint the flying is considered a "luxury". Sure it might not be the most practical method of transportation but for some saving even $50 over the course of the trip could mean the world to that particular consumer. From a CNN Money article it states " with a net profit margin of just 2.4%, airlines only retain $5.42 per passenger carried" and believe it or not that number has increased from only $2.05 per passenger from two years ago. Although the profits that airlines generate are usually due to cost-cutting in the industry through improved efficiency and consolidation. I am a firm believer in the saying "time is money" and I would say that spending more money to fly to a destination vs driving is a more practical idea. Year after year consumers complain about the costs associated with flying with a commercial airline saying its too expensive or its a rip off that an airline charges $20 to check a bag. Also, the common perception to the public is that airlines must be rolling in money for how much they charge but in reality its the common everyday products that consumers buy like a 20oz Coke from the gas station or even a pizza for dinner these two items have a high profit margin than an airline but the consumer doesn't complain about that at all.

One start-up airline that has been successful and has a good business plan is Surfair. The airline travels between Burbank, San Carlos, Santa Barbara, Hawthorne, and Lake Tahoe. Surfair flies up to 28 daily departures. They offer quick booking that they claim only takes 30 seconds to do and consider themselves to be "first class service" by offering no lines and no hassle commuting. Something that is rather catchy with this particular airline is that they are the first-in-the-industry "all you can fly" membership plan. The plan allows a passenger to pay monthly for the membership and it has helped the airline pick up 800 members in a little more than a year of existence. Members can book up to four flights at a time and once the four flights are over the member can then book another four flights. A senior executive in Memberships and Marketing describes this plan as the "Netflix" model. By offering a service that is exclusive to your company will provide brand acknowledgement and start making the company money. The membership plans start out at $1,750 per month and corporate and family plans are also available. Even though Surfair only has destinations on the west coast this is a great idea and something larger airlines should look into.

References

 http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0510/4-reasons-why-airlines-are-always-struggling.aspx

http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/14/07/4737471/2-innovative-airline-startups

http://www.surfair.com/how-it-works.html

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/03/travel/how-airlines-make-less-than-6/

Global Aviation

With the airlines being a very competitive industry these days it becomes difficult for U.S. Airline companies to keep pace with international companies that are slowly starting to enter the industry and they are making a huge foot print. It is a known fact that air travel is the quickest and one of the safest methods in order to travel. "In 2013 there were some 36.4 million flights and only 16 fatal accidents. If you were flying on a jet aircraft your chances in being involved in a major accident were one in 2.4 million this means that there were about 210 fatalities" (Biggest Challenges).

As new airlines enter the industry it becomes difficult for domestic airlines to make a profit. As a new airline emerges that might offer a lower airfare than a domestic carrier. This might be possible since international airline companies are able to purchase U.S. aircraft at a discounted price to keep up with importing/exporting market. It is a known a fact that over the last century airlines have been breaking  even. "On average airlines makes less than $6 per passenger. On about $750 billion in revenue we expect a net profit of just $18 billion" (Biggest Challenges). This breaks down to a 2.4% profit margin for domestic airlines. With the international airlines emerging hopefully this does not decrease this number even further and put domestic airlines into a bankruptcy situation again.

As everyone already knows Americans live in the world of technology. As computers, cell phones and many other pieces of technology change multiple times a year this is also the same with the technology in our aircraft. As airlines continue to find to ways to cut costs to increase their net profit it might be time for them to look at upgrading their aircraft's technology. The FAA is pushing for the Next Generation Air Transportation System or commonly know as "NextGen" this is helping airlines enhance safety and efficiency by transforming the aviation infrastructure. The NextGen technologies and procedures will "guide aircraft on more direct routes, improve communications, save fuel and decrease delays. NextGen is not only good for the environment, but it also reduces costs to airlines and is good for business, jobs and the manufacturing base" (Aviation Today). As airlines determine to save money here and there on technology upgrades this may allow them to increase first year pilot salaries for domestic airlines and keeping those coming into the job market to stay in the U.S. for their career.

By international airlines able to offer lower airfares this opens to doors for the airline to offer higher salaries and signing bonuses for a well qualified pilot. With those airlines making it more attractive for future pilots to work for their airline rather than a domestic airline this will create a bigger demand for pilots in the U.S. If someone could live and fly for an airline in Dubai and get a higher salary and signing bonus it would make more sense for that person to work for that airline. As the guest speaker stated last week "he could go work there for three years in Asia than he would make here in almost 10 years." With those possibilities arising for future pilots it is going to be interesting to see what happens with the future job market. If domestic airlines do not start paying competitive salaries I would suspect that a lot of first year pilots might be traveling to international airline companies.


http://www.wns.com/Resources/Articles/Article-Details/104/5-Trends-for-the-Global-Airline-Industry.aspx

http://www.aviationtoday.com/the-checklist/US-Aviation-Industry-Faces-Global-Challenges_80834.html#.VQnY-tLF9WI

http://skift.com/2014/10/14/3-biggest-challenges-facing-the-global-aviation-industry/

Use of UAVs in Today's World

Unmanned areal vehicles (UAVs) have been around for several years now. But the use of them in the civilian world is a rather new concept recently. It is something that he being talked about daily in the news and articles on the Internet. It is said that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to further open the skies to commercial UAVs in 2015. A few ways the UAVs are being used in the civilian world right now include: Hurricane hunting, 3D mapping, wildlife protection, agriculture, filming movies, and finally search and rescue missions (Carroll, 2013). The worlds largest online shopping website Amazon.com has made statements that they plan to use UAVs in the future for parcel deliveries. According to the FAA encourages civilians that are using a UAV to follow certain guidelines which include: Flown below 400 feet, is kept in sight at all times, not flown within five miles of a airport, not flown around people and weighs 55lbs or less. The FAA states that "Individuals who fly within the scope of these parameters do not require permission to operate their UAS; any flight outside these parameters (including any non-hobby, non-recreational operation) requires FAA authorization" (Unmanned Aircraft Systems). 

I believe that the use of UAVs being integrated into the NAS is inevitable. It is something that will take time to ensure all the kinks are figured out by the FAA. Also, proper training for the use of a UAV needs to be established especially if this grows into something huge. I believe that the publics perception of this happening is not going to go over well. Most people are not open to accept change in something and this is a huge step forward for a lot of everyday jobs and I feel with the use of UAVs this could eliminate some jobs. 

The United States military application of UAVs has been very present in the middle east since the World Trade Tower attacks in September 2001 and by October 2001 under the Bush administration the U.S. had their drones ready to go in the middle east (Drones, 2014). The use of military drones I find to be very ethical for numerous reasons. The ground battlefield has our military in close range of other countries military allowing both parties to see if they have killed someone and usually this results in PTSD in a lot of veterans. Also, another hugs factor is that with the use of drones this eliminates the need for strong presence of our military on the ground, which in turn could save lives. 

There are several job openings currently for both flight and management students whether you would like to be on the civilian side of it or go into the military side. For flight students there are offerings for instruction/training, and "pilot" positions. If one was going into management there are jobs available as a project manager and program manager to just name a few. 

There are several job listings for UAVs the website below has hundreds of possible careers for both flight and management students. 

http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=+Unmanned+Vehicle&l

References

Carroll, J. (2013, June 7). Five ways UAVs are being used by civilians. Retrieved February 26, 2015,                   from http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2013/06/five-ways-uavs-are-being-used-by-civilians.html

Drones. (2014, August 11). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from      http://drones.procon.org/#background

'Model Aircraft Operations'. (2015). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from           https://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft

Corporate Aviation

When comparing careers available for current and future aviation workers in corporate aviation and at an airline you might find that jobs are very similar but may be on a smaller scale. In corporate aviation an employee is dealing directly with fellow co-workers vs. an airline where they are dealing with other co-workers and the direct public. In the corporate world someone that is going into Aviation Management may be able to find a job in some of the following categories: Aircraft sales, Consultant, Charter sales, Administration, and Marketing. Careers available within the airline industry may include the following: Business Consultant, International business consultant, Business analyst, and Marketing. As you can see jobs are very similar but are on different scales. 

Corporate aviation departments do have the ability to save a business money. In the world of business "Time is Money" meaning if you have a sales meeting to get to from Detroit, MI to San Diego, CA and flights with a major airline are booked and the sales representatives cannot leave until 5pm versus the desired time of 9am to make a meeting they ultimately will miss the meeting. If the business has an aviation department one could quickly jump on an aircraft and fly directly to the meeting with no stops in between (unless refueling is necessary). This allows the company to make the critical sale or whatever the situation may be. The initial cost may be higher to obviously purchase a aircraft that will accommodate your employees and future clients. As stated before if a flight is not available to make a sale for your company this could lose the company millions of dollars which in turn could have paid for the aircraft. 

Back in 2008 General Motors had an aviation department and with the bail out of the automotive industry they were being ridiculed for having such an "expense". People within the Government and citizens of the United States believed that if they were not able to keep "their doors open" that this should be one expense that needed to be eliminated. However, back in 2010 GM reinstated their aviation department for corporate flying. GM keeps their fleet of aircraft at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). They had a fleet of seven aircraft including a high end Gulfstream. Currently GM has several openings in their aviation department for engineers. For the positions available they all require 5+ years of experience and a Masters
Degree. 

Works Cited

Business Aviation Jobs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://jobs.nbaa.org/c/search_results.cfm?                     vnet=0&site_id=8102&str=26

General Motors CFD Jobs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.linkup.com/b/cfd-jobs-at-                        General-Motors.html?page=1

NTSB Most Wanted

I believe that the issues identified by the NTSB are in fact significant problems. If the issues were small and did not put people in jeopardy of losing their life then the NTSB would have never issued a "Most wanted list" for safety improvements for 2015. The number one goal in aviation is safety. General Aviation seems to be more of a problem when it comes to fatal accidents than commercial aviation. As stated in the NTSB article "over 40 percent of fixed wing GA fatal accidents occurred because pilots lost control of their airplanes" (Prevent Loss of Control in Flight, 2015). With that being said there needs to be a solution to drastically decrease this number. Currently GA pilots have to complete a flight review, consisting of 1 hour of ground training and 1 hour of flight training, every 24 months. In my opinion that does not seem like enough training. Since GA pilots are typically not flying everyday they might fly on weekends once in a while when the weather is right. It may be encouraging for the NTSB to monitor GA pilots a little more closely to determine which pilots are not flying regularly and those who don't should spend more than two hours every 24 months as a refresher course to safely maintain their skills as a pilot. The NTSB however suggests that airplane owners "should consider installing an Angle of Attack (AOA) indicator, which, coupled with pilot understanding and training on how to best use it, can enhance situational awareness during critical or high-workload phases of flight" (Prevent Loss of Control in Flight, 2015). That is a step in the right direction and this could decrease the number of fatal accidents in GA that resulted in pilots losing control of their aircraft.

The greatest factor negatively impacting safety for the general aviation community would be the lack of training. Pilots going through the training/education of obtaining their pilots license are not taught several of the problems that may occur while flying such as stall/spin. With more training this could lead to better situational awareness in the cockpit. The NTSB recommended procedural improvements, including "requiring pilots to conduct landing distance assessments, revising the procedures for handling thrust reverser lockout after landing, and in non-precision approaches, discontinuing so-called dive-and-drive approaches in favor of continuous descent final approaches" (Strengthen Procedural Compliance, 2015). With those three issues addressed this would contribute to safe operations as well. The NTSB has made some great recommendations to both preventing loss of control in flight in general aviation and strengthening procedural compliance. The industry can implement these recommendations by training and providing better education to pilots which would lead to a decrease of fatal accidents.

Resources

Prevent Loss of Control of Flight in General Aviation. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 7, 2015 from

             http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl7_2015.aspx

Strengthen Procedural Compliance. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 7, 2015 from 

             http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl10_2015.aspx

St

Flying Cheap!

The current state of the regional airline industry is a very sensitive subject these days. With the overall perception of airline pilots making a very healthy yearly salary draws many into the field. But in reality that is not very true and several upcoming young pilots are being mislead. In the short documentary "Flying Cheap" the truth is revealed to the young pilots as to what a possible career could look like while flying for a regional airline. As a young pilot stated in the documentary his yearly salary was around $16,000 which breaks down to roughly $1,300 per month before taxes. For someone that is responsible for precious lives on a daily basis it almost doesn't seem worth it. Like the old say goes "you get what you pay for" seems to be well suiting for this scenario. Paying someone a small salary the employer may not get the best work performance out of that person. With having such a small salary when an upcoming pilot enters the field this could be a huge determining factor for those considering a career in this field. Having an unhappy airline pilot may lead to several problems in the future and could lead to fatal accident. The Colgan accident is a good example of such scenario. Both pilots were fatigue from previous flights when the accident occurred thus leading to the fatal crash that killed everyone on board.

With new regulations taken into consideration the regional airlines might be looking at having to increase their starting salary or even offering a signing bonus for new hires. When pilots are required to obtain more flight hours before being hired on the commercial level that means more time and money that the pilot has spent and in turn they will want to be compensated better. In a Wall Street Journal article it is stated that "2,650 airline pilots will retire in 2020 compared to 560 retirements in 2012." Without offering a competitive salary some of the regional airlines may not be able to keep up with the demand for pilots. The job opportunities are available seeking a career as an airline pilot but the qualifications keep getting longer every year. With that being said this will continue to shrink the amount of qualified future pilots.

Professionalism could be defined as conducting one's self in a manner that is both beneficial to the company that one works for and that strives to exceed the expectation of the end customer. In the documentary "Flying Cheap" a few of the interviewed pilots talked down upon the company that they worked for. Also, by not having well qualified pilots working for the regional airlines they ultimately are providing an unsafe experience for their customers. Providing a service that does not meet or exceed your customers expectations means that something needs to be changed immediately.

The first year pay for some of the regional airlines I believe plays a huge factor in the professionalism demonstrated in the documentary. Having an unhappy employee or an under paid employee could destroy a company's image both from a consumer stand point and for future new hires. Perhaps increasing the first year pilot pay will lead to happier pilot which will then want to promote and be proud of the company they work for. A few ways to expand one's level of professionalism once employed in the career of your choosing could range from improving communication techniques between yourself and the consumers taking advantage of the services your company has to offer or even expand upon the knowledge of the industry or service to other looking for a future career in aviation.

Sources:

"Airline-Pilot Shortage Arrives Ahead of Schedule." WSJ. Web. 24 Jan. 2015.

Flying Cheap. Frontline, 2010.

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