On June 8, 2011 the National Business Aviation Association’s Regional Forum was held at Westchester County Airport, White Plains, New York. The event was very well attended drawing a record 1,918 registered attendees and featuring 112 exhibitors of which Leading Edge Aviation Solutions was one. In addition, to our booth in the exhibitor area, Leading Edge Aviation also had a 2007 Hawker 850XP on static display on the tarmac.

Ed Bolen, president and CEO of NBAA, spoke in front of a large crowd at the event explaining how much Westchester County Regional Airport matters to the local area, how much business aviation matters to the creation of jobs and to the economy in general. Kevin Plunkett, Westchester’s deputy county executive echoed Bolen’s comments with regard to the importance of business aviation. Westchester County Airport alone has 80 businesses and 1,300 direct jobs.

Throughout the day-long forum, information sessions were available featuring distinguished speakers who covered topics of importance to the aviation industry including safety updates, best practices for transitioning to a paperless flight deck, ways to a successful aircraft transaction, and information concerning New York airspace and its upcoming redesign from FAA air traffic control managers. Several challenges to our industry were discussed including recent efforts to change the “do not track” aircraft program known as BARR. NBAA is working hard to ensure that the BARR program remains unchanged so it can continue to provide privacy, security and competitiveness protections to companies and individuals who fly general aviation aircraft.