Chad Trautvetter
Online Editor
Chad is the editor of AINalerts, AIN's daily business aviation newsletter, and is also the news editor at AIN Media Group. He has been writing about aviation, with an emphasis on business aviation, since 1994. Chad started his writing career at The Avion, the student newspaper at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, serving as editor-in-chief before graduating with a bachelor's in aeronautical science. After a stint as managing editor at Professional Pilot magazine, he joined AIN in late 1998. Chad holds a commercial pilot certificated with instrument and multi-engine ratings, and he also is a CFI/CFII. He lives and works from his home in Venice, Florida.
Latest from Chad Trautvetter
Business Aviation on the Web
The Internet has long shed its image as a technology plaything; in fact, it has become an ingrained, and indispensable, part of many people’s daily lives.
Hutchison Named Ranking Member of Senate Aviation Subcommittee
NBAA welcomed the announcement yesterday that Sen.
Safety
GAO Raps FAA over Runway Incursions
Per a request by House aviation subcommittee chairman Jerry Costello, the Government Accountability Office yesterday issued a
Accidents
Brazil Investigators: U.S. Pilots Didn’t Turn Off Transponder
Brazilian authorities have continually blamed ExcelAire pilots Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino for a midair between their Legacy 600 and a Gol Airlines Boeing
Aircraft
PiperJet To Have Rivetless Wing
Piper Aircraft is patenting a new metal bonding technique that will be key to the manufacture of the PiperJet’s all-aluminum wing.
Frost & Sullivan Analysis Shows Healthy Bizjet Market
Frost & Sullivan’s “World Business Jets Market: Investment Analysis” released yesterday says that strong corporate profits and more orders from China,
Dassault Feeling the Dollar Pinch
According to Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Charles Edelstenne, the French aircraft manufacturer is planning on moving some of its activities out of Eu
AIN Audiocast: Jack Pelton, Cessna Chairman, President and CEO
Over the past week Cessna Aircraft has made headlines for buying bankrupt Columbia Aircraft and for a decision to manufacture its SkyCatcher light sport ai
Charter & Fractional
Newly Acquired Flight Options Buying Phenom 300s
Flight Options late Friday simultaneously announced its finalized acquisition by Miami-based private equity firm H.I.G.
Airports
Land-use issues remain an obstacle for airports
Airport encroachment and land use might be the next big issue beyond user fees, said Bill Dunn, AOPA vice president of airports, at the American Associatio
Local/regional groups foster and protect bizav
The number of local business aviation advocacy groups has continued to swell to 48 associations as part of an attempt by business aviation users to promote
Aircraft
Tail supplier sues Eclipse
Litigation filed last month by Eclipse 500 empennage assembly supplier Hampson Aerospace in the New Mexico Second District Court against Eclipse Aviation q
Charter & Fractional
OurPlane Takes Delivery of First Frax Eclipse 500
Light aircraft fractional provider OurPlane last week took delivery of the first Eclipse 500 that will be operated under Part 91K fractional aircraft owner
Accidents
Learjet 35 Crashes on Takeoff from Brazilian Airport
Brazilian officials are still combing through the wreckage of a Learjet 35 that crashed Sunday in São Paulo, killing at least eight people.
FBOs
Hawker Beechcraft FBOs on the Block
Hawker Beechcraft has hired Harris Williams to shop seven of its U.S.
Security
DHS Seeks To Avert GA Nuke Nightmare
“The nightmare scenario that we talk about is the possibility of a weapon of mass destruction being detonated in a city,” Department of Homeland Security S
Charter & Fractional
Is NetJets Moving To Orlando?
According to the Orlando Sentinel, state and local officials are drafting an incentive package to lure fractional provider NetJets to Orlando, Fla
Charter & Fractional
DayJet finally takes off
On October 3, per-seat, on-demand air-taxi firm DayJet marked its official grand opening in a ceremony at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional Airport.
Regulations and Government
User fee debate may run into next year or beyond
“In Washington, D.C., no bad idea ever dies,” National Association of State Aviation Officials president and CEO Henry Ogrodzinski said of aviation user fe
Aircraft
James Schuster: Raytheon Aircraft's turnaround man
James Schuster has been the chairman and CEO of Raytheon Aircraft since 2001, and is also an executive vice president of Raytheon Co.
Charter & Fractional
Eclipse chief stands by VLJ air-limo concept
As Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse prepares to fly a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610-powered Eclipse 500 later this year, company founder and CEO Vern Raburn
Aircraft
New Business Aircraft
As the business aviation industry awakens from its three-year slumber, start-up and established manufacturers hope that their aircraft now in the works, as
Aircraft
Eclipse gathers itself for projected first flight
“Its time has come,” predicted Eclipse Aviation CEO Vern Raburn.
Aircraft
Cessna’s Pelton proclaims LCC is ready for launch
“Had the show been later in the year, we definitely would have launched the Large Cabin Concept [LCC] airplane here at the NBAA Convention,” Cessna chairma
Maintenance and Modifications
Bombardier puts meter on support for older aircraft
Last month, Bombardier Aerospace launched a “classic aircraft support program” after seeing a “dramatic increase” in service and support requests ove
Charter & Fractional
Flight Options negotiations continue
Flight Options pilots are only marginally closer to having a negotiated contract nearly a year-and-a-half after voting in a union.
Avionics
Garmin 1000 migrates into more panels
In the three years since Garmin introduced the G1000 integrated avionics suite, the Olathe, Kan.
Regulations and Government
Congress steering away from GA user fee plan
General aviation late last week won a major battle, but not yet the entire war, against user fees.
T-6 Texan Deliveries Suspended
The U.S.
