Kirby Harrison is a freelance writer for The Weekly of Business Aviation, Business & Commercial Aviation and others in the Informa publishing chain. Harrison joined the Navy in 1962 and spent 20 years in the service, virtually all of it as a photojournalist, traveling from small islands in the South Pacific to Vietnam to the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon. When Harrison retired from the Navy, he went back to college and graduated in 1971 from Syracuse University with a Bachelor's Degree in Photojournalism. Along the way, he spent two years as a news photographer at the Daily Press & Times Herald in Newport News, Virginia, and three years working for Studio Sebe in Nice, France as a photographer. More recently, before retiring, he worked nearly 20 years for Naval Aviation News.
Proposed tax rule changes recently issued by the Texas state comptroller go beyond the plain meaning of the tax code in Texas, and seek to impose significant new burdens on aircraft owners and operators, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) says. The rules would “significantly change the standards for creating aircraft ownership and operating structures [and] under the proposal, a new rule might determine when operators could qualify for the ‘sale or resale’ exemption through aircraft leasing,” according to the association.
A consortium of 15 companies called Advanced Approaches for all Airports (A3), led by NetJets Europe, has been formed under the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) program. The program is intended to demonstrate new approach and landing solutions that will increase the capacity of the European airport network while reducing emissions and noise.
The Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) has called on municipal officials in East Hampton, N.Y. to seek the services of an independent mediator to address a long-running debate over noise complaints and federal funding of East Hampton Airport, which is owned and operated by the town. According to town records, helicopter traffic at the airport was up 40% this past summer and overall fixed-wing traffic was up 20%. East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said a total of 18,454 noise complaints had been lodged since last January.
