Public Money for Private Planes

December 18th, 2011 · admin · Aviation News No comments
Public Money for Private Planes
© epSos.de

US Senator Claire McCaskill has returned the $88,000 in taxpayer money that she spent on flights aboard a private plane, but that is not making the scandal go away. The Republican Party in Missouri has filed a formal ethics complaint against McCaskill, who is a Democrat.

The Senator's private plane use was exposed by a newspaper investigation, which found that she spent nearly $76,000 in public money over the last 4 years to fly on a charter plane that she co-owns with her husband and other investors. The Senator denies wrongdoing, saying that neither she nor her husband made money from using the aircraft which was mostly used for Missouri travel. But Republicans say they have evidence that the flights broke official rules, including the fact that one of the flights in 2007 was for a purely political purpose, which violates Senate ethics rules.


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Private Planes Accidents

October 25th, 2011 · admin · Aviation Safety No comments
Private Planes Accidents
© Hejl

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has devised some ideas to reduce the accident rate for private planes and corporate aircraft by up to 10% by 2018. FAA chief Randy Babbitt said he is concerned that the accident rate for general aviation (which refers to all types of aircraft excluding airlines) has improved only slightly in recent years. The rate is down from 2001, but there were still 268 general aviation fatal accidents with 457 deaths in 2010.

However, the number of flights logged by general aviation pilots has also declined since 1999, dropping from 29 million to less than 22 million in 2008, in part due to the recession. Babbitt said he is also concerned about a recent trend where planes built form kits are flown mostly for personal use. These planes were involved in 22% of general aviation accidents over the last five years, even though the accounted for just 5% of total general aviation aircraft.


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The Secret About Private Planes

August 28th, 2011 · admin · Air Shows No comments
The Secret About Private Planes
© Mike Weston

Private planes can be a luxury item but what if you had to pay a tax to fly it into Maine. Maine has passed a law that states that when a privately owned plane flies into Maine and stays for longer than 20 days; they have to pay a tax on that. That could hinder their tourist economy immensely. Owning a private plane certainly isn't for the poor but if the rich don't exercise their wallets, the rest of us can suffer. The rich can help stimulate stagnant economies in smaller areas or even draw attention in with the media. And how can they get there? By private jet or plane of course.

It is a continuous circle that occurs. The private plane industry is much more important than we once thought.


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