Greater Washington Business Aviation Association, Inc.

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Welcome to the Greater Washington Business Aviation Association (GWBAA).  GWBAA has been established to represent the interests of business aviation in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

For the most current GWBAA newsletter, click here.

For upcoming events, click here.

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Please join NBAA in contacting Congress and urging them to
reject the FAA's plans to impose user fees on business aviation.

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GWBAA GOLF TOURNAMENT SCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 30

On Thursday, September 30th, GWBAA will be holding our sixth Annual Golf Tournament to benefit the Aero Club of Washington Foundation.  This year's event will be at the 1757 Golf Club in Dulles, VA.  Visit http://www.1757golfclub.com to learn more about this new course.  For information and to register as a sponsorship or player, please visit http://2010gwbaagolf.eventbrite.com.

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GWBAA SAFETY STANDDOWN

GWBAA held its fourth annual Safety Standdown at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia on May 20. Speakers addressed the attendees on a variety of key safety topics for aviation professionals. 

“We are grateful to the attendees, speakers and sponsors of this year’s standdown,” said GWBAA President Paige Kroner.  “This was another successful event with a lot of great safety tips from our speakers.”

Sponsors of this year’s standdown included Bombardier, Dassault Falcon Jet, FlightSafety International, Gulfstream, Landmark Aviation, Lansdowne Resort, MedAire, NBAA, Rudy’s Inflight Catering, Sharp Details, Signature Flight Support, TISMA, Welsch Aviation, Air Routing International and US Sedan.

If you haven’t already, please give us your feedback (a survey was emailed to attendees after the event), and we look forward to seeing you next year.

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GWBAA ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY - DECEMBER 4TH

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GWBAA’s holiday event on December 4th, hosted by Landmark Aviation at its Dulles facility, was a big success.  Over 30 business aviation professionals attended the reception, which also included the annual membership meeting.  (GWBAA thanks Landmark for its hospitality, as well as Bombardier, FlightWorks, and FlightSafety International for providing door prizes.)  GWBAA President Paige Kroner provided a summary of the past year’s events, and also asked for members who might be  interested in assisting with next year’s projects. and/or joining  the board to let her know; she can be contacted at info@gwbaa.com.

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POTOMACTRACON HOSTS TOUR

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The Potomac TRACON meeting and tour on Tuesday, August 25th was considered very beneficial by the GWBAA members that attended.  We are deeply grateful to all the people that allowed this to be successful – especially Operations Manager Bill Carver, who hosted the extensive question and answer session and tour.

 

The meeting started with an excellent PowerPoint overview of the mission and history of the Potomac TRACON and its consolidation from multiple former individual sites.  Bill opened everyone’s eyes with his fascinating presentation on the airspace structure and volume of traffic that is controlled on a daily basis.  This spurred many questions about departure and arrival routes and gates, with numerous specific scenarios being worked through in detail.   The Q&A portion of the forum ran much longer than anticipated.

 

GWBAA members didn’t hold back with some tough questions.  Many of the questions were answered to our satisfaction, although some were not.  To their great credit, all of the FAA staff rolled up their sleeves and helped us to better understand why things that often appears illogical to us as operators make sense in the bigger picture.  Topics included traffic management from taxi-out to taxi-in, flow restrictions logic, arrival and departure routings, the SFRA impact, EDCT, and SWAP. This was an extremely beneficial session with nearly everyone in the room having significant input to the discussion.  Even more worthwhile was that when issues were presented to the FAA that really had no logical explanation, Bill acknowledged the shortfall and committed to fixing them!  Bill and his team are committed to improving efficiency and the user experience, and they took on every question with that level of dedication.  GWBAA could not have hoped for a more satisfying result.

 

A special thank you goes to our NBAA GA Desk Representative, Jim McClay.  Jim was a key contributor to the detailed operational discussion that took place.  Jim’s experience at the GA desk in the Command Center added great depth and experience to the passionate discussion.  ARINC sent representatives as well, and they were able to add valuable input to much of the operational and planning portions of numerous topics that were discussed.  [GWBAA also thanks member John Kelly for his preparation of this summary of the day’s events.]

 

This was the first in a group of planned working meeting/tour events that GWBAA intends to host for the membership.  We are fortunate to be in the proximity of a number of FAA facilities, and we hope to have the same level of interaction with many of them moving forward.  If you were unable to attend this meeting you missed a terrific event.  The Command Center is next on our list.

 

Additionally, GWBAA Safety & Operations Chairman, Jim Lumley, has volunteered to head up a special ATC Task Force.  This task force will give GWBAA members an ongoing forum to address their ATC problems, frustrations and concerns.  If you are interested in joining the Task Force, contact Jim Lumley at (443) 534-1219 or jpilot3@aol.com.

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ARINC HOSTS LUNCHEON AND TOUR FOR GWBAA

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On March 19, ARINC hosted a luncheon and tour for about 20 members of GWBAA and other guests at its facilities in Annapolis.  Mike Shearer provided the audience with an overview of the services provided by ARINC (which is this year marking its 80th year of providing aeronautical communications) and the specific services available for business aviation through ARINC Direct.  ARINC provided a tour of its control center and other behind-the-scenes operations after lunch.  GWBAA thanks ARINC for its hospitality!

LEGISLATIVE AND TAX LUNCHEON TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 11


GWBAA will hold a Legislative and Tax Update Luncheon featuring news and updates from Capitol Hill, Maryland, and Virginia on Wednesday, August 11 at Signature Flight Support at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  Speakers are expected to include:

·         Lisa Piccione, NBAA’s Senior Vice President for Government Affairs. 

·         Randall Burdette, Director, Virginia Department of Aviation

·         Ashish Solanki, Director, Maryland Office of Regional Aviation Assistance


Registration is $25 for GWBAA members and $75 for non-members ($50 of which will be applied to 2010 GWBAA membership).  Sponsorship is also available ($300 for tabletop display and program recognition).  Current sponsors include Bombardier; TVPX – Time Value Property Exchange; Vance & Engles Aircraft Brokers, Inc.; and Wiley Rein LLP.

For more information, download the flyer from http://www.gwbaa.com/GWBAATaxLegislativeFlyer.pdf; register by visiting http://2010gwbaagaupdate.eventbrite.com.

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GWBAA WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS

At its meeting on February 18, the GWBAA board welcomed four new members – Julie Anderson, a Regional Sales Director for MedAire; Glenn Hediger of Aviation Financial Consulting, LLC; Doug Smith, a Sales Director at Bombardier; and Dan Walker, a Regional Marketing Manager for FlightSafety International.  The board also thanked two departing members for their service; Jim Lumley, who had been operations and safety chair, and Bob Rockwood, who had been membership chair.  Because GWBAA is a volunteer-run organization, new blood is always welcome; assistance will be needed for upcoming projects, including the third annual safety standdown which is scheduled for late in the spring.

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 GOLFERS ENJOY ANOTHER YEAR OF PLAY, DESPITE THE CHILL, FOR A GOOD CAUSE


On September 29, 2009, sixty participants made their way to GWBAA’s fifth annual golf tournament at the Herndon Centennial Golf Course.  Those that attended last year’s event no doubt remember the huge frost delay – to avoid the cold for this year’s golf tournament, our Board decided to move the date up a month.  But believe it or not the day was actually chilly (and the pro shop sold many sweatshirts that morning)! Thankfully, the cold didn’t delay our play or our fun We enjoyed a wonderful day of golfing, networking, door prizes, and the famous BBQ lunch.

GWBAA wants to sincerely thank those who made this year’s golf outing possible – especially our major sponsors Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Sharp Details.  Thank you to all our sponsors and volunteers for making this golf tournament a success!  GWBAA is again proud to contribute a portion of the golf tournament proceeds to the Aero Club Foundation of Washington.  The funds will be used to support aerospace education programs at public schools in the District of Columbia.

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GWBAA HOLDS THIRD ANNUAL SAFETY STANDDOWN

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GWBAA Operations and Safety Chair Jim Lumley; United Flight 232 Captain Alfred Haynes; and GWBAA President Paige Kroner

GWBAA held its Third Annual Safety Standdown on May 7 at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Training Center in Ashburn, VA.  The attendees included pilots, maintenance technicians and other representatives from corporate flight departments and aviation support businesses in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and from areas throughout the country.

 

Doug Carr, Vice President of Safety for the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), gave the opening remarks and was followed by Jim Burin, director of technical programs for the Flight Safety Foundation, who spoke about today’s aviation safety challenges.

 

“A safety culture is the single most important item for any aviation operation and the one item that you can’t buy,” said Burin.  “It must be supported by senior management.”

             

This year’s event included three breakout sessions.  Bob Hobbi, owner of ServiceElements, spoke about achieving superior levels of customer service for FBOs, charter operators and flight departments.  John Rahilly, principal of Rahilly Aviation Associates, gave a presentation on how to obtain the best price and highest quality service when having an aircraft serviced.  Additionally, the NTSB’s Dr. Paul Schuda gave attendees a tour of the reconstructed portion of the fuselage of TWA Flight 800 and explained how the accident aircraft was reconstructed.

 

Captain Alfred Haynes, of United Airlines Flight 232, was the keynote speaker.  In 1989 Haynes and his crew crash landed a crippled DC-10-10 in Sioux City, Iowa with no hydraulics.  Although there were 111 fatalities, there were also 184 survivors.  During his presentation, which included the video of the accident together with ATC recordings, Haynes credited Crew Resource Management (CRM) with limiting the number of fatalities and praised everyone involved in the accident: pilots, flight attendants, maintenance personnel, air traffic controllers and especially the Sioux City emergency response crews who responded to the accident.

 

In lieu of an honorarium to Haynes, GWBAA has donated $2500 to the Al Haynes Scholarship Foundation, which is used to assist aviations students at Aims Community College.

 

“This year’s Safety Stand-Down built on the success of our last two stand-downs and was an unqualified success,” said Paige Kroner, president of GWBAA.  “My thanks to all of our sponsors, speakers and volunteers who contributed to that success.”

 

This year’s sponsors included Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Gulfstream, Satcom Direct, Welsch Aviation, Sharp Details, FlightSafety, NBAA, Signature Flight Support, Universal Weather & Aviation and Landmark Aviation.  The stand-down is eligible for credit towards NBAA's Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) qualification. 

 

GWBAA also thanks ARINC, Air Routing, AvCard, Hawker Beechcraft, and Jeppesen for donating prizes to our drawing.  If you haven’t already, please give us your feedback, and we look forward to seeing you next year.

Copyright 2005 - 2010 Greater Washington Business Aviation Association, Inc.
This website was last updated on August 31, 2010.