Aviation Organizations

     

     I think as part of my career path it would be beneficial if I became a member of the American Association of Airport Executives.  It would also be in my favor to become a Certified Member of the American Association of Airport Executives.  Another association which would also be important for me to join would be the National Business Aviation Association or Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

  

     The American Association of Airport Executives offers various resources including material to become a member of the organization and posting of jobs in the industry.  From looking at the AAAE website they deliver or offer such things as development and training, help meeting regulatory challenges, and information or news that is critical.   

     The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) helps to make general aviation businesses more successful.  From their website it's mentioned that the NBAA represents more than 10,000 companies and provides many products and services to the community of business aviation.  They also hold a large conference for numerous aviation products and services.  

     The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is an organization primarily designed for owners or operators of aircraft.  It does offer online programs to keep one informed or fresh with their knowledge if a pilot but not currently flying.  It offers many resources to anyone involved in aviation.  This organization is an additional way to stay informed with the latest news in the aviation industry.

     The benefit of belonging to the AOPA or Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, for myself would be that they offer a lot of information for pilots.  These include seminars and online quizzes to keep one proficient with their aviation education.  Being a pilot but primarily interested in the management field of aviation it will help keep me informed even if I'm not flying every day.

     After becoming part of the AAAE or American Association of Airport Executives, one might be viewed as more informed on the management side of the aviation industry.  This could make a résumé look stronger having added to the knowledge already gathered from a Bachelors Degree in Aviation Management Technology.

     The NBAA would be beneficial to join as it offers many aspects to the aviation community in a business aspect.  As currently I am not exactly sure which avenue of aviation management I would ultimately like to end up at this organization would help me to be well rounded.  

Aviation Professionalism & Flying Cheep

A specific job I would like to end up at would be the Director of Administration of an airport.  I would like to end up at Metro Detroit Airport, I would like to end up with the Wayne County Airport Authority.

      The position listed above is essentially an individual that would oversee most of the airport operations at a major airport.  I have gathered information about the required tasks and responsibilities of an Airport Director of Administration from AAAE.   This positions job duties are typically responsible for tasks like directing the work flow of different departments, dealing with internal audits, directing polices for management, being a leader business improvements, and assure compliance with the regulations and government laws.  In addition Director of Administration is also behind the implementation of policies and procedures.  This is for most levels in the organization, from dealing with goods and services to the administration of contract documents and internal and external audits.  It is also important that this manager communicate effectively with the entire department and construct a good work ethic.  This will give comfort and security to employees about the importance of safety along with the Director being seen as a leader of a successful business.                The company I currently listed above was the Wayne County Airport Authority, located in Michigan.  The Detroit Airport has seen a decent amount of growth in the past years.  According to the Wayne County Airport Authority, this has been with the operation of both aircraft operations and passenger operations.  They have completed their airport master plan in 2009 and expect to see new developments in the near future.
 

I think that there are safety and liability concerns in any organization or business.  As a manger in this position I feel there would be a lot of oversight responsibility.  There are several divisions that the Director of Administration would be supervising.  Some of the things I think that could be done or I might do would include placing emphasis on performance evaluations and insuring they are done on a regular schedule with giving feedback in a timely manner.  Also I feel the work ethic and team work would be important.  Creating an environment where one another can complete tasks and double check ones work as a system of redundancy to help in preventing an error.  With things like this it would lay a foundation for a safe environment and the business or organization could focus on safety.

Professionalism in my own words is presenting yourself in confident, respectful, well groomed, and well dressed manner.  Speaking with clarity and directness when addressed.  

Two ways in which lack of professionalism was shown in the documentary "Flying Cheep", one would have been seen by the pilots computing weight and balance.  The Captain wanted to just mark down that a few more of the passengers were children so they would be within weight limits.  Management lacked professionalism by thinking about completing the task.  In the documentary one of the guys interviewed said they were willing to fudge numbers so it looked like he was on a normal duty day when he was really over and operating illegally. 

       

NTSB Most Wanted List

     The NTSB "most wanted list" consisted of two topics, General Aviation: Identify and Communicate Hazardous Weather and The Unique Characteristics of Helicopter Operation.  In the general aviation article it is mentioned that the highest aviation related deaths are in general aviation.  The article states that the accidents per 100,000 flight hours are significantly greater in general aviation than either Part 121 operations or Part 135 charter operations.  It is mentioned also that the three things related to weather related accidents is the pilots training and operation, since most of these accidents occur in instrument meteorological conditions.  They also mention the weather information provided and distributed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Weather Service, along with the creation of weather advisories like pilot reports. 

     I do believe that aviation weather related accidents is an important topic to be on the "most wanted list" by the NTSB.  I feel that since a majority of these accidents are occurring in general aviation, that it is essential to discover ways to increase pilots awareness of what they can do to prevent these types of scenarios from happening to them.  A big part of aviation is insuring safety and being able to reduce the risk of accidents as much as possible.  If we can find a way to lower the accidents per 100,00 due to weather related accidents it would impact a large number of people.  It seems any accident or incident in aviation draws to the public eye of how unsafe or risky it can be at times.  If there  is a way to lower the number of accidents and incidents to prove to the public it is a safer means of traveling than by car and would help increase the image or perception of general aviation.

     Since aviation is a constantly changing field with technology and new ways to enhance safety, I think that an area where new jobs might exist would be in the safety of aviation.  They could add to the information of reading and understand weather information available to pilots to increase their understanding.  There could be added requirements to obtain ground instructions or attend these weather seminars, making it mandatory.  Having a requirement on an annual basis for example would create a need for more instructors.  I've seen weather courses on websites like AOPA, some of them are stories about an accident that happened because of weather, and others have quizzes at the end to test on the information about weather.  I think these types of things are also helpful to general aviation pilots.  Along with this in aviation safety areas, adding or making additional information about risk management and the efficient use of the tools available in the cockpit.  Training in this area could add to the knowledge of a pilot helping them to become aware of the multiple resources they have, especially since many general aviation pilots do not fly consistently year round.   

Landing At The Wrong Airport

     In looking into other aircraft incident where they mistakenly landed at the wrong airport, I found a United Flight operated by Silver Airways. This occurred in August of 2012, when the flight was intending to land at Clarksburg but ended up landing at Fairmont.  Its seems that according to the CNN article about the Silver airways Saab 340B, it landed at an airport about 10 miles away.  This is similar to the other incidents regarding the Boeing 747 aircraft and Southwest 737, which both landed at the wrong airport about 9 and 7 miles from their intended destination. 

     Some of the hazards in making this kind of mistake can be involved with the airline companies reputation.  When an aircraft incident occurs, whether or not people are injured it will mostly likely make some type of headlines.  Along with that another factor would be money or revenue, if an airline makes a few mistakes like this I could see people choosing to fly with another company.  Also things like the logistics of getting the passengers on board these flight to their correct destination could be difficult.  It's the airlines responsibility to coordinate getting these passengers to the intended airport in a timely manner.  I could see this affecting and causing problems as this is not the type of incident that would be anticipated.    

     In my opinion, in reading the Gazette article on Southwest Flight 4103, the pilots made an error that could have been corrected before landing at the Taney County Airport.  I do however think in some situations the media does over-hype aircraft incidents.  I think that until a full investigation had been completed it would be difficult to determine the exact reasoning.  In the incident with the Boeing Dreamlifter, it seemed that the pilots confused their intended destination for the Jabara Airport.  I think that in this cause the pilots also mistakenly landed at the wrong airport, and I would have thought with their navigation and experience they would have been able to correct this event as well.  I think that these incidents are not the types of things that the media should be focused on as there were no catastrophic events that occurred from them.  In both cases I think the pilots made an error and were able to land the aircraft safely.

     As a management major, I would tend to agree with suspending the Southwest pilots until the investigation is completed.  In researching, I found that the skies were clear and it was about 6pm.  I would think that with the training and experience that the pilots had they should have been able to notice and abort the landing before touching down.  The article said that the intended, Branson Airport had a runway of more than 7,100 feet long and Taney County Airport had a runway just over 3,700 feet long.  It seems like a pilot should be familiar with longer runway lengths and know the field is significantly shorter.

Introduction

Hello,

I am a graduating student at Eastern Michigan University with a major in Aviation Management Technology.  I am looking to find a job within airport management but don't have any specific companies in mind at his time.  I plan to use this class and semester to look more in depth to find a location or airport I would ultimately like to be employed with.

I got interested in aviation a couple years back when my dad started working towards getting his private pilots license.  I started flying a little at a small flight school, while taking college classes and it became more interesting to me each flight.  Before I knew it I was taking ground classes and got my private pilots license.  I continued flying to go on and get my private pilot instrument rating after that.

I find that the management side of aviation interests me more than the flight side.  After meeting with a few airport managers throughout my education process and going on a tour at Detroit Metro.  I would like to work for either an airport authority or possibly the airline.  I enjoy management and the business side of things.  My parents had their own manufacturing business that I had the opportunity to see how it operated.  Being around this business and seeing the management side of things has given me more of an interest in management and business operations.