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
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.
Cessna to open giant Wichita facility
When Cessna opened its new 159,000-sq-ft Orlando Citation Service Center on June 21, the facility became the largest in the company’s service-center networ
Charter & Fractional
How many players?
One prediction about which most fractional providers’ executives and consultants agree is that within five years there will be only two strong major provid
Charter & Fractional
Fractional VLJs?
Most of the fractional executives interviewed for this article were not optimistic that very light jets (VLJs) will enter the fractional fleet.
Charter & Fractional
Fractionals adapt to an ever-changing market...
Thirty years ago, most people would have dismissed anyone who said they’d eventually make money by selling bottled water, especially since tap water was, a
Aircraft
Cessna saddles up to build Citation Mustang
The six-seat Citation Mustang, Cessna’s newest addition to its stable of business jets, is starting to take shape.
In the works:Peering Into The Crystal Ball
The stock market is on the upswing, initial public offerings were up this year for the first time since 2000 and the business aviation industry is recoveri
Charter & Fractional
Flight options chief leaves
Flight Options insists that it’s business as usual despite last month’s unexpected departure of the company’s chairman and CEO, John Nahill.
Aircraft
In The Works: Dassault Falcon 900DX
While all eyes were on the Falcon 7X last month for its public unveiling, Dassault’s new Falcon 900DX was quietly making its way down the assembly line in
Aircraft
In The Works: Utilicraft FF1080-300
Utilicraft Aerospace Industries, a spin-off of American Utilicraft, last month gave Metalcraft Technologies (MTI) the go-ahead to construct the initial sub
Aircraft
In The Works: Eclipse 500
Eclipse Aviation last month announced that its next two FAA-conforming Model 500 very light jets, N502EA and N504EA, have completed wing mate and are stand
Aircraft
Cessna mates wing of first Citation Mustang
The first Citation Mustang conforming prototype got its wings on the morning of February 3.
Aircraft
Learjet 60 package offer extended
Bombardier Aerospace director of Learjet products Brad Nolen told AIN that the company has extended indefinitely the Learjet 60 “complete package offer,” w
Charter & Fractional
Is less more at Flight Options?
Taking a quasi-Southwest Airlines approach, Cleveland-based fractional provider Flight Options last month announced a “go-forward” plan to rationalize its
Charter & Fractional
NetJets pilots reject new work contract
On October 29, more than four out of every five of the unionized pilots at fractional provider NetJets voted to reject a tentative agreement (TA) reached i
Aircraft
SJ30-2 program on target for certification in third quarter
Sino Swearingen insists that the 2,500-nm-range SJ30-2 will be certified in the third quarter of this year, despite numerous program delays and the crash o
NIAR quietly develops technology for aviation
Mention Wichita, and most people in the business aviation industry immediately think of Cessna, Raytheon/ Beech, Learjet or Boeing.
Training and Workforce
Flyers’ online FIRC does not soar above the rest
A majority of professional pilots have earned a flight instructor rating as the first stepping stone on their aviation career path.
Aircraft
VLJ race reaches epic porportions
Bend, Ore.-based Air Investor Resources (AIR)–the parent company of Epic Aircraft, which is currently flight-testing its Epic LT turboprop single–is now te
Charter & Fractional
NetJets and FlightSafety report profits for 2004
In his annual letter to shareholders published early last month, investment mogul Warren Buffett said earnings improved last year at Berkshire Hathaway’s f
