General aviation aircraft deliveries increase during the first six months of 2012
August 15, 2012, 12:52 pm
According to new information from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, total shipments of general aviation aircraft increased to 918 during the first six month of this year, up 5.9 percent on a year-over-year comparison. Overall billing for general aviation aircraft also increased to $8.2 billion, up from $7.2 billion.
The information showed that business jet deliveries increased the most, to 294 units, up 13 percent when compared to the first six months of last year. Furthermore, turboprop deliveries increased 10.5 percent to 243. Piston deliveries decreased to 381, down 1.6 percent on a year-over-year comparison, Wichita Business Journal reported.
“We are starting to see positive signs in the 2012 shipment data,” said Pete Bunce, GAMA’s president and CEO, the source reported. “When coupled with the positive trend we are seeing in the used market, we may finally be witnessing the start of our recovery.”
Bunce added that although positive steps are being taken, the Federal Aviation Administration's certification process needs to improve efficiency in order to boost those numbers even further and fully take advantage of the emerging markets.
One recent FAA change might help tap into one of those markets. The FAA recently released new medical certification guidelines for transgender pilots. In the past, FAA required a medical and psychological clearance of all pilots before they could fly, but trans pilots in particular were subject to additional testing, including personality, projective and intelligence test.
"It was as though somebody had said, 'OK, we don't know a lot about transgender people, but we think something might be wrong with them,'" Harper Jean Tobin, director of public policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality, told The Advocate. "There's no particular reason to think that just because someone is transgender or transitioning, they would have developed some kind of cognitive deficit."
The further testing was expensive, time-consuming and often had to be paid for by the pilots themselves. With the new medical certification guidelines, transgender pilots are no longer required to partake in these unnecessary psychological tests. The FAA only requires current clinical records, an evaluation from a psychologist or psychiatrist with experience in transgender patients, and a post-operative report if the pilot has undergone surgery.
All pilots, in the current or emerging aviation market, are encouraged to obtain pilot life insurance before taking to the skies so the safety of loved ones will be covered.
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