Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end to summer, is here. Perhaps you’re tired of the cocktails of summer — Gin and Tonic, Mint Julep, and Margarita — but you aren’t quite ready to turn to the Manhattans and neat scotches typical of the long nights of fall and winter.
The Aviation is the perfect cocktail for aviation enthusiasts looking for a new drink for this long, relaxing Labor Day weekend. This pre-Prohibition cocktail was invented by Hugo Ensslin in New York City in 1911, but the Aviation didn’t appear in print until his 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks.
Nobody really knows how the cocktail got its name. Some say it was an homage to the growing popularity of aviation at the time. Others claim that the blue hue of the drink serves as a reminder of the friendly skies. Blogger palatejack offers a different explanation for the name: “With its faint robin-egg blue color, it is a cocktail that evokes the jeopardy between the perils of early flight and the wonder of a bird’s eye view.”
While it has never been as popular as other classic cocktails, like the Martini, Sidecar, or Tom Collins, it’s unique and delicious. If you’re looking for a classy, distinctive cocktail for your party or jet this weekend, try an Aviation.
Here’s the original recipe:
Aviation
- 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
- 1/3 ounce maraschino liqueur
- 1/6 ounce crème de violette
- Maraschino cherry for garnish
Combine liquid ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake until cold, and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.
A July article in the New York Post reports that private jet owners are taking a big hit to their wallets as the resale values of their jets lose as much as 50 percent. As a basis for comparison, many industry experts previously estimated aircraft depreciation at just around 2 percent a year.
While the news is a bitter pill for those looking to sell, it’s a great time to be in the market for a private jet. This optimal buyer’s market for private aircraft persists for a few reasons. Fueled primarily by an emerging class of wealthy buyers who prefer newer planes, the market for new jets is recovering faster than the one for pre-owned models.
BRIC is buying
Additionally, demand from BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) is supporting an otherwise ailing pre-owned market. Aviation experts predict that, for the first time this year, demand from these countries will surpass that of the U.S.
If you’ve been putting off the move toward purchasing a used jet for fear the market will continue to decline, don’t worry. High inventory and low demand continue to indicate near-perfect conditions for acquiring a pre-owned jet. There are plenty of good bargains to be had.
The rush is on
However, a bargain basement price on a pre-owned aircraft doesn’t necessarily signal a good deal. The old rules still apply. Do your homework, and above all, reach out to an experienced broker who understands the intricacies of the pre-owned jet market. The right partner will help you navigate this turbulent market and will have established key relationships that pave the way for a smooth buying process.
There’s no way to predict where the market will go next, but signs indicate that a recovery is imminent. By the time you read this, the best deals on pre-owned aircraft could already be gone.
Just last week, Brazil hosted the 9th Annual Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Expo (LABACE) in São Paolo. The record attendance at LABACE 2012 is indicative of the rosy prospects for business aviation in the region, especially Brazil.
Brazil has demonstrated significant growth in private aviation in the past couple of years.
- Traffic at general aviation airports within 100 miles of São Paolo has doubled in the last 5 years.
- Embraer is opening a new center in Sorocaba, which is already home to the Dassault Falcon and Gulfstream centers.
- The number of private jets in 2011 increased to 623 — 77 more than in 2010. That’s a growth rate of nearly 14 percent!
As is common in emerging private jet markets, the infrastructure to support aviation is not adequate and needs serious improvements. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked with Brazil minister of external relations Antonio Patriota to develop the U.S.-Brazil Aviation Partnership. The memo of understanding allows private and public entities from the U.S. and Brazil to work together to improve airport security, technology, and infrastructure.
Brazil is very close to allowing the private construction of business aviation airports, and this would alleviate the considerable traffic at congested commercial hubs. Check out the plans for a new general aviation airport, Catarina Aeroporto Executiva, in the São Paolo region.
There’s a sense of urgency, too, for Brazil to ramp up its aviation infrastructure. The country hosts the World Cup in 2014. In 1950, the last time the World Cup was in Rio de Janeiro, more than 1 million people attended. Rio also is the location for the 2016 Olympic Games; more than 9 million seating tickets were sold for the London games this summer.
People (and jets) get ready!
The public has frowned upon the use of private jets for business since the chief executive officers of the United States’ “Big 3” automakers flew in theirs to tell Congress how broke their companies were.
In light of the nation’s continual struggle to get back on solid financial ground, those who still believe private jets demonstrate opulence and extravagance should face the facts: private jets are not only good for business, they’re good for the economy.
Contributions to the economy
Business aviation contributes $150 billion to the U.S. economy. The industry employs more than 1.2 million people in the way of pilots, dispatchers, engineers, manufacturers, mechanics, technicians, airport workers, FBO staff and more.
The benefits also extend to those who may not directly use business aviation. This includes communities with little or no airline service, recipients of humanitarian efforts, businesses that operate in more remote locations and others.
An organization dedicated to reinstate the honor and validity of using private jets for business, Noplanenogain.org, offers some facts about airplanes, airline travel and private aircraft.
Necessity, not luxury
For the companies that use private jets, the machines aren’t a luxury: they’re a necessity and often short on glamour. The most commonly used jet for business is the Cessna CJ1, which has an 11′ x 4’9″ cabin and seats five passengers. This small plane needs only 3,250 feet of runway to take off, so it can alight on any of the 5,000 public-use airports scattered throughout the nation’s suburbs, small towns and back country, as well as land at small city airports abandoned by airlines decades ago.
If two companies are competing for business, the one using a business aircraft can fly directly to one of those smaller airports and get to lunch with the client before the other guys taking the commercial airlines show up.
And the business people with the corporate jets won’t just arrive faster; they’ll also show up better prepared. After all, most companies send teams of people, and in their own airplane they’re free to discuss confidential information or polish up that PowerPoint presentation.
Business jets are also widely employed by the government for search and rescue missions, surveillance, medical evacuations and crew training. Such aircraft are also valued as speedy, secure executive transportation that is appreciated and used by high-ranking military and civilian officials, including many members of Congress and even the president.
iPads have pretty much swept the skies. Sure, other tablets are working on apps and usability, but right now, most pilots choose to use iPads in their cockpits. And with good reason. iPads are known for being intuitive, and that is just as true in the skies as it is in the airport bar.
iPads offer serious advantages to pilots:
- The FAA requires maps to be updated every 28 days; this is much faster with an iPad.
- The mandatory flight bag containing paper maps and charts weighs 45 pounds; an iPad weighs 1.44 pounds.
- Pilots have instant access to current, local weather and gate information as well as the flight data.
There are benefits for airlines and owners, too. After United Airlines adopted iPads in the cockpit, it saved 16 million sheets of paper a year and 326,000 gallons of fuel.
Flight students can get in on the goodness, too. If they’re in the U.S. Air Force, they will get on-the-job training: The USAF has purchased some 18,000 iPads to replace 200 pounds of paper on each flight in a six-month test of the technology. Additionally, students should use FlightLink to record the audio of their lessons.
Yay, innovation! Of course, there are some concerns about adopting Electronic Flight Bag systems, mainly involving complying with FAA regulations. The agency just released an updated Advisory Circular about EFBs in June. Make sure you stay up to date.
When you hire a crew to fly your business jet, you’re hiring more than a run-of-the-mill operator and flight attendant.
You are, in fact, hiring people who should have your company’s best interests at heart — from economy and efficiency to comfort and safety. They also represent your company, whether you or your customers are on board.
In effect, they are employees of your company, and you should take as much care in hiring them as any other employee or executive, according to Jeffrey Reich, principal of Elevon Consulting, in writing for Forbes.
Therefore, you should hire the best in the field: operators who understand your company’s goals, who bring value and can find ways to optimize your aviation use, and who know how their practices “tie in to added effectiveness, efficiency and risk minimization,” Reich says. They need to represent your business with “the appropriate finesse.”
That doesn’t mean that the right operator is the most experienced; rather, that you can train a sufficiently experienced aviator with high values and standards to fly your plane and bring the value you’re looking for to your company, Reich says.
However, pre-training is essential for a private jet’s flight crew.
Susan C. Friedenberg, founder of Corporate Flight Attendant Training and Consulting Services, stresses that if disaster were to strike while a jet was in flight, the passengers trust that the crew knows what to do. If the crew — including the corporate flight attendant — has not undergone emergency training, lives could be lost.
Ehow.com offers these tips in hiring a flight crew:
- Contact a flight crew leasing company through a local fixed base operator (FBO) or online, with your requirements to hire a flight crew. A leasing company will perform background checks, performance reviews and match the right crew for your needs. Ask for references from other current clients to make sure they are happy with the level of service the leasing company has provided.
- Ask for references from other private jet owners you may personally know or have run into at the airport where you store your airplane. They may have operators and crew that can meet your needs.
- Place an ad in professional operator or airplane-owners magazines or visit Airline Pilot Central’s Web site for a private flight crew. This method would take the most effort since most likely you will have to screen and interview the crew yourself.
- Select a pool of operators and crew you want to interview. Ask for each of them to provide a resume for your review.
- Ask to see candidates’ current operators’ logs. This will tell you how current their flight hours are. Based on your level of comfort, you can hire an operator with 250 hours or up to 10,000 miles. Regional airlines hire their pilots with just over 250 hours, whereas larger legacy carriers hire operators with more than 5,000 hours.
- Ask for each operator and crew member to provide a criminal background check. They can receive these from their local sheriff or law enforcement agency. This will prevent you from hiring someone with a criminal history.
- Ask for a copy of operators’ passport photos. (They will need a current passport for international travel.) Inquire if they have international experience if you plan to travel to a global destination.
The Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (LABACE) is gearing up for its 9th annual event. This conference is a huge international business aviation fair, second only to the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE).
The Latin American private aircraft segment is a steadily growing market. In the region, analysts predict delivery of nearly 1,000 business aircraft over the next decade as part of a total 2,285 deliveries between 2012 and 2031. To meet this demand, Blackhawk is adding staff and will introduce them at this year’s LABACE. Also, Brazil has become the second largest market for Hawker-Beechcraft outside U.S.
The Latin American business jet market doesn’t get the recognition it deserves according to some industry watchers. Brian Foley, an aviation analyst, asserts that the Latin American market “will continue to play a key role in sustaining what has been a troubled industry, hopefully until the U.S. market regains its strength.”
LABACE 2012 takes place next week, Aug. 15-17 in São Paulo, Brazil. There is already a lot of buzz about it. Here are some of the highlights to expect:
- Bombardier showcasing its Vision Flight Deck.
- Hawker-Beechcraft displaying 6 aircraft
- 4th annual Business Aviation in Latin America (BALA) Summit on Thursday called “A Vision for the Future”
Let us know what you’re excited to see at this year’s LABACE!
Do you have clear title to your aircraft? If not, you may not be able to sell it, and you may not want to buy one without clear title.
According to Greg Cirillo and Gary I. Horowitz of Wiley Rein LLP, in writing for The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, clear title is the “single most important element in an aircraft transaction. It is the one objective that cannot be compromised and the one condition to closing that, if unsatisfied, will end a transaction.”
A clear title has gained even more prominence in a time in which repossession, voluntary surrender and distressed aircraft sales are more common, and buyers should use heightened caution, they write.
Cirillo and Horowitz define a clear title as “an expression reflecting that ownership of the aircraft is transferred free and clear of all mortgages, liens, leases or encumbrances, and that there are no legal questions or ambiguities as to the aircraft’s ownership.”
For the buyer, this means that he or she owns the aircraft completely and exclusively, without risk of a third party claiming ownership or a lien interest, according to Cirillo and Horowitz. For the seller, the clear title is “the essence” of what he or she is selling for the agreed upon amount. But even after selling the aircraft despite title problems, he or she may still be responsible to defend the buyer’s title to the aircraft at his or her own expense.
For a buyer to obtain a clear title, the seller must have originally acquired a clear title, resolved any existing impairments on the title and lawfully conveyed the clear title, Horowitz and Cirillo say.
Buyers must be aware that although titles and liens are filed with the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA), national and international registries do not create or prove clear title. Rather, they merely provide a place to register title and liens and find notice of filings affecting title, Cirillo and Horowitz report.
That means the parties of an aircraft transaction must rely on local law to determine whether a title was properly conveyed. The FAA is ineffective in cases of defective title transfer, defective lien creation, or termination and liens created without filing, they write.
To avoid the quagmire that post-closing title ambiguity and lien claims create, buyers and sellers alike should perform due diligence to ensure that the transaction involves a clear title.
Doing so is part of the “pre-buy” evaluation, and it is best to involve a professional broker such as L & L International, who can help not only with confirming that an aircraft will come with a clear title but will also scrutinize the jet with a trained eye. A broker will confirm the aircraft is right for the buyer, its physical condition, that it has a clean history and its papers are in order, and if it has been well maintained.
Thanks to some hackers, the protection offered by the BARR program will soon disappear. Since airplane registration numbers are a matter of public record, everyone will soon be able to find out who is flying where and when.
What is BARR?
The Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program allows aircraft owners and operators to opt-out of having their flight information broadcast on the Internet in real time. Websites like flightaware.com make it easy to track commercial flights and private flights that haven’t registered with BARR.
What is openBARR.net?
The site openbarr.net enables anyone to track any flight in real time, even if it has requested to keep its flight information private. All you need is an Internet connection and the tail number to keep tabs on the location of a plane. This website was announced at DEF CON, a hacker’s conference, in Las Vegas at the end of July.
What are ramifications of openBARR.net?
I’m sure TMZ and other celebrity “news” sites think it’s about time they have access to this valuable information. However, tracking flights mid-air is an infringement on privacy, and that affects every U.S. citizen. So nobody really cares when and where I fly, but if I hop on a commercial flight, nobody is the wiser. I’m just one of dozens or hundreds of passengers. But a private jet with familiar tail number (can you guess who N236MJ belongs to?) will soon be trackable in real time for all the over-zealous fans and reporters to mob at the landing.
But enough about celebrities. The openBARR.net will have huge effects on business. Interested parties can see where CEOs fly and potentially break up a big business deal or merger. Forget about confidential negotiations.
So what can we do to combat openBARR.net? Share your thoughts with us.
